Hoist the Colors
by AngelofPrey
Summary: Colleen Killigrew is a pirate on the ship Pendennis, she lives a life of fortune, but the East India Trading Company threatens her very existance. Join her on her adventures on the seven seas, and her fight for her life. Major OCs.
1. Chapter 1: Cheng Chin and Shang Hai

**A/N: This is my first pirates fan fic, it really doesn't include many of the characters from Pirates until the very end. But it **_**is**_** a fan fiction because it takes place in the Pirate' universe. **

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN OR ITS CHARACTERS. THEY BELONG TO DISNEY.**

Hoist the Colors – Part 1:

Cheng Chin and Shang Hai

The King and his Men

Stole the Queen from her Bed

And Bound her in her Bones

The Seas be ours

And Bide the Powers

Where we will, we'll roam

Yo ho

All Together

Hoist the Colors High

Heave ho

Thieves and Beggars

Never shall we die

The haunting song rolled through the mist and out over the dark waters of the bay. The night was as darker than usual what with no moon to guide the ship into port, so the crew had to be extra careful. But not as careful as they would have to be when they made land-fall.

The singer was one Colleen Killigrew, the third youngest and fieriest of the Killigrew clan's ship the Pendennis. She had dark-brown hair, and sharp grey eyes. She would have been considered quite pretty if it wasn't for the fact that she looked so malnourished. She was skinny as a rake, but was as strong a sailor as any. And even though she was skinny she had still stolen the heart and had her heart stolen by one boy. A Scottish man by birth, he had moved to her village in Wales when both were at the age of twelve. They had met when Colleen still wore skirts, and Auntie Maud still captained the Pendennis. She was of medium height for her age, about four months between seventeen and eighteen. Her birthday had been sometime in November, but her mother swore it was on the nineteenth of that month that she gave birth to her youngest child. So every year on the nineteenth, her family would give her a new pair of shoes, or more recently an extra ration of gin, rum, bread, or loot, should they take a ship that day. The Killigrews were pirates, a ship manned by a female crew. Their fathers, brothers, and husbands stayed at home posed as business men or merchants, a different kind of pirates, more accepted in society. This played as a ruse to fool the English soldiers, which occupied their town in southern Wales. The Killigrew crew were also, all related, cousins, sisters, daughters; they all took part in the family business, piracy. Sailing on the Pendennis for one voyage then signing on if they should wish.

This was Colleen's third voyage, just signed on as quartermaster. With that position came great responsibility and a heavy counter balance; the drunken mad-woman, and the mother to the captain, her aunt, Maud.

Maud hadn't always been a drunken souse. She had once been captain of the Pendennis. The position handed over to her daughter, Elizabeth (Lizzie), due to her shot nerves that had caused her drinking problem. Her nerves caused by the fact that she didn't want to let her family get into trouble, but being pirates that was hard to avoid. This eventually led her into a circle that only her favorite liquor, gin, could cure. She is a very stout lady, not very tall, and her shrill voice and think Welsh accent 

make her almost impossible to understand, even more so when she's drunk. She has dark auburn graying hair that she hides under her enormous bonnet. Her reddened brown eyes are covered my spectacles that she often cleans on her skirts as she speaks. Now, she wanders along with Colleen in tow, always searching for a way into the store rooms. Usually to find the gin barrels to fill her giant tankard that can easily fit over a man's head. It was a very helpful fact in a fight.

Maud's daughter, Elizabeth, or Cousin Lizzie, was the hot-tempered, strict, and smart captain of the Pendennis. She often reprimands the girls for calling her "Cousin Lizzie" instead of "Captain." Her flaming red hair, and striking beauty was almost as famous as her reputation, as the leader of the "Valkyries of the Sea", some of the most fierce and vicious of women of their profession, topped only by Anne Bonney, Mary Reade, and Cheng I Sao. Colleen looked up to her as a role model, and hopes that one day she might be able to become Captain Colleen Killigrew. She is taller than her mother but still not exceedingly tall, Colleen stood to about her shoulders, and she had blue eyes that could capture a man's heart with a single glance.

Colleen's first cousin, Gertrude, or Gert as she preferred, or Gertie as she was called, was the first mate on the ship. She was savage, blood-thirsty at times, and tough. Although she did have several boyfriends in various ports in the Caribbean and around Britain. She was very tall, and probably the strongest woman on the ship, perfect for barking out orders, and whipping lazy crew members into shape. She also had the most interesting eyes, which were bright blue, but around the pupil were brown. She loved nothing more than a good bar-fight and was just as good at breaking them up as well. She looks out for her younger cousins and family members like a hawk, always looking for the slightest sign of trouble from them or threatening them.

Colleen's other first cousin, Beatrice, or Bea, was the former first-mate, and current boson's mate. She had been knocked down a peg when Gert had returned to the ship after staying a few months with one of her boyfriends. Bea had long hair almost the same length as Colleen's, only it was a straw-blonde color. She had green eyes, and stood the same height as Colleen. She was known for her cunning but was a horrible cheat, in all literal sense of the term, because she always used the same tricks, they worked well on new-timers but to the Killigrew's they all knew about her secret hiding spots for cards, loot, and other trinkets. She too had a certain blood-lust to her, and since Gert had taken her higher ranking, Bea was resentful and the two often cat-fought. This usually ended up with one of them stuck watching Maud and a very innocent Colleen getting their jobs for the day, and thier resentment later. Bea looked out for the other girls and being the weapon's specialist on the ship had a habit of tying a dagger into the braid of her hair and using it as a very effective weapon. Colleen wished Bea would show her exactly how to do this someday.

Colleen's first-cousin-once-removed, was called Enid, she was the "ballast" on the ship. Although she was perhaps Colleen's closest friend and family member, both in age, and everything else. The girls were inseparable and were hardly ever seen without the other. Enid however happened to be very ditsy and stupid. Which often subjected her to games of "Eydie and naceydie" (yes and no), "The Table Game" (in which Enid acted as a card table for the other crew members to gamble upon, and was "won" if Enid didn't fidget too much), and Colleen's personal favorite, "Blackbeard's got your nose!" Enid was seventeen and had short auburn hair, which she often tied into pigtails. Enid was also very flashy and wore large disk-like gold earrings and a gaudy diamond ring from given to her by Blackbeard himself. This was her second voyage just having signed on as well. Colleen and Enid often fought with one another mostly when Enid was trying to be smart and tell off the quartermaster to show off in front of the captain, which annoyed Colleen to no end. These two usually ended up fighting, and making up in the end but with several bruises.

There was also Meg, Colleen's second cousin, and also a deckhand on the ship. She was a very tall skinny girl who thought of herself very highly, but almost always ended up making a fool of herself. She was one of the people who most often forgot to call Cousin Lizzie, "Captain". She had the same 

straw blonde hair as Bea, but had blue eyes, and the hair was much shorter. Meg wasn't the brightest nail in the ship but there weren't many bright ones on this ship anyway. The only reason the Captain put up with her was because she was family.

The final member of the crew was Hannah, the cabin boy of sorts. She was only twelve years old but had signed on for her fourth voyage. She was very adventurous and that frequently got her in trouble with the other girls. She had brown hair, and tanned skin almost the same shade as her hair, due to the fact she spent so much time at sea. She was short and inquisitive, which made her very cute, but she tended to push the limits, and often ended up being chased across the deck for some little thing she'd done.

The ship itself was a majestic one, crewed by only seven women, it was the pride of Wales, or would be were it not a pirate ship crewed by women. The Killigrew's and their Pendennis had been sent to the Far East to escort the final member of the Brethren Court to the meeting taking place as soon as Captain Barbossa, William Turner, his fiancé Elizabeth Swann, and the infamous Calypso aliased Tia Dalma had returned from retrieving the Black Pearl and her Captain Jack Sparrow, from Davvy Jones' Locker. They had been sent to find Captain Cheng Chin of the Black Dragon, to bring him to the meeting, for he was the last holder of the nine pieces of eight, and his ship made port in Shang Hai, China. That is where he ran his monopoly over Eastern trade, where he made the threats "either you pay me, or I'll raid your ships kill everyone on board and sink it." He was an economic pirate of sorts.

This ultimatum he made is what forced Captain Teague, keeper of the Pirate Code, to force three other pirate ships and five other captains to sail along with the Pendennis, to make sure they didn't get blown out of the water. These were Captain William Kidd, of the ship the Adventure Galleon. Captain Calico Jack Rackham, Captain Anne Bonney, and Captain Mary Reade, of the good ship the Fortune, and lastly Captain Edward Teach aliased Blackbeard of the good ship the Queen Anne's Revenge. None of which were all to happy to go with them, they all would have preferred to stay at Shipwreck Cove and gamble, drink, and brawl until the meeting started, but Captain Teague had insisted and the Keeper of the Code had to be honored. And besides the song had been sung, the pirate captains were being summoned, and Chin was the last one not to reply.

It was night as they were entering the harbor, and everyone was very tense. Colleen was about to start the second verse of the song when a voice cut through the mist and made her jump.

"Quiet Colleen, you want to bring them down on us?" Colleen jumped ant turned, her hand going directly for her empty leather frog searching for her sword.

"You alright girl? You're awfully jumpy. But that's good you immediately went for your sword, I taught you well." Captain Elizabeth looked pleased, and then her face turned grave. "But now I got to get you to keep your sword on your belt! How many times do I have to tell yer? You don't go anywhere near port without it!"

"Sorry Captain." Colleen mumbled. Two criticisms in one thought, I'll be scrubbing dishes for a week! She thought.

"It's alright Colleen, just don't do it again, and don't sing anymore until we know it's safe, alright? Oh and would you put some distraction in Maud's way so she doesn't follow us into port? We might run into some trouble I don't want her getting in the way…"

"Yes Captain." Colleen replied with a slight smile. Cousin Lizzie turned and left disappearing into the mist.

A half an hour later the crew of the Pendennis, minus Maud and Hannah, went ashore to try and find Cheng before his men found them. The other pirate captains were assembling as well. The crew of the Fortune had stayed behind too scared to leave the ship. Blackbeard's crew had been ordered to stay behind and make sure nothing happened to the ship. Captain Kidd and his crew had elected to stay behind to watch out for British naval ships.

"Did anyone else notice something strange here?" asked Anne Boney upon their arrival.

"Yeah," said Mary Reade looking around, "There is somethin' strange isn't there?"

Everyone else looked around until they figured out what was going on, or rather what wasn't. The dock, of one of the busiest and most important ports in China, was deserted. This dock should have been guarded by at least thirty-men, or thirty pirate-men, but there was no one.

"What? Annie? I don't get it. What's wrong?" Jack Rackham's voice cut the silence. He wasn't the sharpest nail on deck but, and Colleen had no idea why, he had been named co-captain of the Fortune. But he was ruthless, cut-throat, and dashing, probably why Anne Boney had married him in the first place, so men followed him.

"There's no one here, Jack." Anne replied in an annoyed tone.

"_We're_ here Anne." He said slyly.

"Shut up you bastard. You know what I mean!" she hissed, shoving him aside as she stalked off.

"Looks like your crew's abandoned you Rackham… Are you losin' your touch?" said Captain Killigrew slyly.

"Naw, but those piss-soaked bastards wouldn't dare shove off without their Captains." He said with the air of confidence. "They's too superstitions to do something like that!" He gave his throaty laugh and looked for his flask of liquor and made a sour face at not finding it.

"What's superstition got to do with mutiny, Captain?" asked Gert.

"Well them devils think that that ship o'er there is blessed, or cursed as it may be… that the ship only follows Anne and Mary's orders and whoever else they name captain of course. But if anyone else dares to try and sail her by herself, she'll turn on 'em! And they'll suffer a most horrible fate! Them fools too stupid to sail that pile of sticks out too far any way, there ain't no drop of leadin' blood in 'em either. They won't sail without us…"

He gave another laugh and started to head off the dock. Blackbeard and the crew of the Pendennis followed. He stopped them short.

"Keep your swords out gents'" Blackbeard said, "I don't likes the looks of this."

With that they all set out and walked through the deserted docks. There were ships in port but no one was out, any good sailor always spent the night on shore drinking and brawling till the establishment's owners forced them out. There should have been someone, even a "greeting party" from Cheng. There was no way he didn't notice their arrival.

"A little spooky, eh Anne?" Rackham said, running his hand up her back, and giving an evil-laugh.

Anne elbowed him in the gut; he grunted and doubled over cursing.

"Knock it off bastard!" she spat.

"Why'd you do that Anne!" he yelled.

"Cause I wanted you to shut up! You were annoying me!" she wheeled.

"Yeah? Well I find your attitude annoying, perhaps I should give it an adjustment?"

"Don't forget who you're talking to you son-of-a-bitch!"

They drew their swords and circled each other.

"Both of yas' belay that!" shouted Blackbeard, "At least 'till we reach a safer part o' the port!"

"Blackbeard's right." Said Captain Killigrew, "We don't know if they're lying in wait for us."

"What're you mean Captain Lizzie?" perked up Rackham, "You mean like a-"

"Trap, Miss Killigrew?" Jack was cut off by another man suddenly and surrounding the Captains with about two dozen other men.

"Yes… a trap…" said Killigrew flatly.

"Well then, welcome to Shang Hai." He said, bowing mockingly. "What business do you have in the Black Dragon's port?"

"We're here to find Cheng Chin, and summon him to the Brethren Court. Under orders of Captain Teague." Killigrew replied.

"Really? Well I regret to inform you Miss Killigrew that Lord Chin is not in Shang Hai at this time. So you'd best be on your way."

"Oh bull!" shouted Rackham lowering his pistol to wave it menacingly. "Cheng is always in port!"

"Not at this time, Mr. Rackham!" insisted the man.

"Oh really? Well how's 'bout you call us by our real titles you pig-nosed son-of-a—"

"Jack!" Anne, Mary, Elizabeth, and Blackbeard, shouted.

"Calm down." Cooed Anne.

"Colleen?" called Captain Killigrew.

"Yes, Captain?" Colleen said stepping forward.

"Now's a good time for that song…" she hinted.

"What?" she questioned.

"Just!—sing…"

Colleen started to sing, softly but loud enough for everyone to hear the words clearly.

"The King and his men stole the queen from her bed…and bound her in her bones…"

"Quick! Someone shut her up!" cried the man, and several of the men started to close in on Colleen, the other Captains quickly drew their weapons to protect her.

"The seas be ours, and bide the powers… Where we will we'll roam. Captain?" Colleen asked quizzically.

"Keep singing Colleen! We'll keep them at bay!" she cried.

"Yo ho, all hands… Hoist the Colors high."

Anne and Jack ganged up on a trio of men, and quickly sent them over the dock into the harbor with a splash.

"Heave ho, thieves and beggars… never shall we die."

With the last verse three men lay wounded and four in the harbor, and those that remained stared at the Captain's quizzically.

"There," Captain Killigrew said. "Now the song has been sung in your port too, Cheng can't deny the Brethren Court's call. In the Pirate code, laid down by the pirates Morgan and Bartholomew, you must-"

"Do not quote the code to _me_ Captain Killigrew!" Said one of the men who'd surrounded them, he stepped forward throwing off his hood, "I was there when it was written!"

The man was a tall Asian with graying beard and hair, he looked very impressive, but in the disguise they had thought him only a common pirate.

"I'm sorry for the… façade, Captain Killigrew but you realize there is much danger in these parts, what with the East India Company breathing down our necks. We must take certain… precautions, I'm sure you understand."

"Perfectly Cheng. But that is no reason to not come to the Brethren Court when summoned!" snapped Anne.

"Unfortunately Captain Boney, I had no prior knowledge that the Court had been summoned." He said matter-of-factly, "But you see it would not I who would have to go anyways."

"What do you mean!?" Anne yelled back, "You helped bind Calypso! You are one of the bearers of the nine pieces of eight! You have to go!"

"No I do not. That is where you have your facts all confused; _I _am not one of the nine captains that would be my… wife, Cheng I Sao."

"You're… wife?" repeated Rackham.

"Yes, my lovely wife whom I've been married to for twenty years. Now if you please, let us go inform her of your arrival…" He turned to leave, then paused and said to the man who had talked to them first. "Oh and Yao? Please take the guards off their ships they are our guests."

"Yes sir." Said Yao bowing.

Just as this was said a piercing shriek cut through the air.

"Where do you think you're taking my Lizzie!?" it was Maud, she stumbled up drunkenly, with Hannah in tow, to Cheng, and peered at him waving her finger in his face.

"How did you?" said Cheng his mouth gaping. "How did you get past all my men?!"

"Oh those were _your_ men? Oh, sorry, but they got in my way so I hit 'em o'er the head with my tankard nice and lightly but they keeled right over. SPLASH!" she motioned with her hands as she spoke, then shrieked as she lost her balance. Cheng looked at her incredulously, and then a look of recognition spread over his face.

"You are Maud Killigrew?" he asked.

"I am?" Maud said squinting at him. "Oh, right I am!" She reached her hand out shake his.

"Do you remember my wife? Cheng I Sao?" he asked.

"Cheng I Sao… I Sao. Oh! I Sao! How is that old pig?" she said smiling.

"Oh fine, fine." Cheng led her off holding her arm as they chatted.

The rest of the crews began to follow them until Captain Killigrew noticed Hannah following them.

"Hannah, go back to the ship." She ordered.

"But Cousin!" Hannah whined.

"Now!" she said pointing. Hannah slunk off with a disappointed look on her face, and then Captain Killigrew called. "Take a bit of bread and rum if you want, we'll bring you back something to eat as well."

Hannah perked up at this and ran back to the ship.

The group of Captains and crew, wound their way through the deserted streets, and then made their way to the back of one building and Cheng knocked on the door. The peep-hole opened and a set of eyes peered through at Cheng, and then opened the door. The group descended a flight of stairs into a throne-room of sorts.

"Welcome my friends," said Cheng, "To the Pirate Court of Shang Hai."

Colleen looked around the room; the men who had been part of the ambush were taking their place along the walls, where jade statues stood on podiums. The walls were all painted red, Chinese luck symbols decorated the doors, and the silk curtains that stood in the middle of the room were also red but painted with black dragons. Cheng pulled back a set of these curtains and revealed a set of chairs and adjoining room full of people. Two girls danced with fans, while a musician plucked at a guitar type instrument. A very stately woman sat in an ornate chair, she had her face painted completely white, making her outlined eyes, and red lips stand out even more. Her black hair was done in a very ornate head-dress, and was laden with jade ornaments.

All eyes had turned to the new comers, and Colleen felt uncomfortable under their eyes.

"Who have you brought here?" asked the woman.

"An old friend of yours." Answered Cheng.

"I Sao, how are you, you old pig?" asked Maud delighted.

"Maudy Killigrew? It has been a while! I'm well, and how are you doing you cow? Still captain of the Panda-Dance?" I Sao stood and went to greet her friend.

"No, I'm too old, so I handed that over to my little girl here, Lizzie." She answered pulling her daughter closer to her.

"Mum…" growled Killigrew in an annoyed tone.

"Lizzie? Lizzie darling, do you remember Cheng I Sao? The last time you saw her you were running around the family manor without an y clothes on shouting, 'I'm a Pirate Captain!'"

Everyone's eyebrows rose at this as Elizabeth shrieked, "MUM!!"

"What Lizzie dear? It's true you know!"

I Sao just chuckled and said, "So, Maud Killigrew what brings you to my side of the world?"

"Oh, I Sao there's some bad business goin' on in every part of the world. The East India Trading Company is starting to take over, and recently I heard they had one, Captain Davy Jones, and the Flying Dutchman as his flagship." Maud explained, almost sober for once, she removed her spectacles and rubbed them on the folds of her skirt as she spoke. Captain Rackham jumped at the mention of Davy Jones.

"Wait, hold on a minute!" he interrupted, pointing accusingly at Maud. "I didn't know nothin' 'bout no Davy Jones workin for Becket!"

"With someone like that at their helm." Said Cheng Chin, "What chance do you think we have of getting to the Brethren Court?"

"Why? You got a debt to pay too?" smirked Anne Boney.

"As a matter of fact yes." Answered Cheng.

"My husband, like you Rackham, has had his run ins with the devil captain. And had to bargain with him, as I'm sure you did." Commented I Sao. "So Maud, from what I gather, you're here to pick me up and bring me to the Brethren Court?"

Maud sighed. "Yeah that's the idea."

"Well, then we best be off!" she said with a clap of her hands. I Sao stood and there was immediate bustling in the room, everyone except for the pirate crews and captains were busy.

Cheng pulled his wife aside and whispered. "Are you sure you want to do this I Sao?"

I Sao replied so that everyone could hear. "Yes husband. I plan to go because I am one of the Pirate Lords, and I must do as the Brethren Court and the Code commands!"

Cheng sighed, "I guess you are right, as always my little flower."

Within an hour all preparations were complete and they were ready to sail Cheng would take his flag ship the Black Dragon, and Cheng I Sao would sail on the Pendennis with the Killigrews. It would protect her from any pursuers, and give her and Maud a chance to catch up.

The route that was chosen was to head straight for the Caribbean, across the Pacific, around the tip of South America, and all the way back up to Shipwreck Island. This would take a few months, but then again, it would take Sao Fang, and the crew of the Black Pearl just as long, if not longer to get there.

They would travel with all speed and as few stops as possible, the Brethren Court, and the world they ruled, was running out of time…

**A/N: I hope you've enjoyed the first chapter, they second will be along shortly I've been working on it and I like how it's turning out. Thanks for reading. Cheers!**

**Boshi**


	2. Chapter 2: Pacific and the Missionaries

**A/N: Second chapter up! Slightly shorter than the first, and I'm less happy with it, but I don't feel like fixing it right now…. Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN OR ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS!**

It's all for me grog,

Me jolly jolly grog,

It's all for me beer and tobacco,

For I spent all me tin,

On the ladies drinking gin,

So over the wide ocean I must wander.

"For I spent all me tin, on the _laddies playin'_ gin, Colleen. _Laddies playin'_ gin!" Bea corrected Colleen's singing gesturing with the knife she was using to core and peel an apple.

"I don't know Bea…" said Enid taking a bite out of one of the apples. "I've always heard it as 'ladies drinkin' gin.'"

"I know Enid," Bea replied a little annoyed, "But I'm trying to teach you the proper _Killigrew_ way of singin' 'It's all for me Grog.'"

"Oh!" Enid exclaimed, "Well in that case Colleen, you better do what Bea says! We don't want to have you singin' it the wrong way for Cousin—I mean Cap'n Lizzie to overhear!"

"I'll keep that in mind Enid." Replied Colleen, not even looking up from her apple.

"Now then, what song are we goin' to sing next?" asked Enid, impatiently.

"Why don't you just go over there and talk a while with Auntie Maud, and Captain I Sao?" said Bea.

"But I don't want to!" whined Enid, "I want to sing some more!"

"Well it's Hannah's turn to help us peel any way! Where is that girl?" barked Bea.

"Last I saw she was chasin' the cat around the store room." Answered Colleen.

"Then go an' get her Enid!" then Bea added slyly, "Eydie?"

"Eydie!" Enid exclaimed.

"Naceydie." Bea shook her head.

"N-naceydie." Enid looked crest-fallen.

"Eydie." Bea smiled.

"Eydie!" Enid jumped up joyfully and ran off to (hopefully) find Hannah.

"You're mean…" commented Colleen, finally looking up from her paring knife.

"I know!" smiled Bea in a cat-like grin only she could manage. Then she walked off to find Meg, who was also due for a peeling session.

The six ships had been sailing for about two months. The Pendennis led the way, with the Fortune and the Adventure Galleon close behind, and the Queen Anne's Revenge and Black Dragon taking up the rear. As they crossed the Pacific they had stopped at several small islands to restock, so far without a hitch, but it was said that several islands were inhabited by cannibals. And it was only a matter of luck that the crews should or should not stumble upon it. For four months they had crossed from island to island, battling winter storms in want of speed. They weren't running out of food yet, which was good, alcohol was getting a little low, only 

twenty-six barrels left out of sixty on the Pendennis. Maud was being rationed to one tankard a day, which she didn't like, opposed to her usual four tankards.

One morning with an island insight, the captains decided to drop anchor and restock their ship's supplies of water, and food. Captains Bonney, Rackham, Killigrew, and Kidd went on the expedition with several of their crew members. Read, Blackbeard, and the Chengs stayed behind to guard the ships.

Captain Kidd came out from his cabin, adjusting one of the buttons on his stolen naval-officer's coat. He wasn't an exceptionally tall man but he had a commanding presence that had earned him the title of Captain. He was only about the age of Captain Killigrew, and had brown hair hidden under a stylish powdered wig. His blue eyes had charmed many women, without the help of his wit and gentlemanly airs. When he looked up he noticed one of the youngest members of his crew looking at the other ships through a spy-glass.

"Oi! Gabriel!" Captain Kidd barked out, the boy didn't answer. "…Boy!"  
Gabriel spun around like a child caught doing something they weren't supposed to, hiding the spy-glass behind his back in the process. Gabriel was a boy of about seventeen, with long curly sandy-brown hair. He had the scraggly start to his first beard, but his face was still that of a boy. He was as tall as the captain, but you could tell he wasn't yet made for a life of privateering, let alone the navy life he had signed up for. He looked through grey eyes that were filled with guilt and a certain haunted look.

"What's wrong with you, boy? You look like you've seen a ghost." The Captain said with concern.

"No Capt'n… well yes, Capt'n, in a way." The boy replied in a Scottish accent, then he asked, "Whose ship is that? The one over there, with an all women crew?" He pointed as he spoke.

Captain Kidd took the spy-glass from Gabriel and looked at the Pendennis.

"Why that's the Killigrew Clan's ship… The ship's the Pendennis, fine little thing she is. She's crewed by all women as you say, their captain is Elizabeth Killigrew. You might know them as the Valkyries of the Sea. They're very well known around England and Ireland. Why do you ask?"

"Do you know the name of the dark-haired one?" Gabriel asked.

The Captain trained the spy-glass on Colleen, who was hanging from some of the rigging, gazing at the island. She then climbed down and trotted over to her captain and appeared to be saying something.

"That girl I think is one of their youngest on the crew… I heard Elizabeth call her Colleen on our last expedition on land I think. She was shouting at the lot of them so I can't really be sure…"

"But you're sure you heard the name Colleen?"

"Yes, she said it clear as day. 'Colleen go get Mum out of that hole, or we'll leave YOU behind!'" Kidd chuckled.

Gabriel looked unsettled.

"You alright lad?" The Captain asked, "You don't look so good, maybe some time on dry land would do you good. You sure you don't want to come?"

"No Capt'n," Gabriel answered, "I'll be alright. The faster we fulfill our obligation to the East India Trading Company the better…"

"Alright lad, but if you do come on shore just to feel some solid ground under your feet, make sure you say none of that to the other crews… or else we'll be prisoners before you can blink."

The Captain left, and Gabriel turned back to the spy-glass and watching Colleen from afar.

"Jesus Colleen," he whispered, "Why'd you have to be on the ship now?"

When the small exploration party reached shore they were welcomed by a quiet beach. Each captain had only taken two or three crew members to help hunt for food, water, etc.

Colleen had been dragged along with Meg and Gert, after being volunteered by Enid. She wasn't too fretful to get off the ship; after all she wouldn't have to put up with Enid's mindless chatter, Maud's mindless raving, and Hannah's mindless whining. She would also get to speak with her new friend Thomas Diggles whom she'd met on their last endeavor on land, and whom was currently "powder monkey" on board the Fortune, even though he was almost taller than Colleen, and still growing. But he was fast and agile so he was the most ideal member of the crew for the job.

Thomas was very tan, and had the darkest brown eyes Colleen had ever seen, almost black. He also had the slightest hint of a mustache growing in. He usually wore purple striped pants, and a green shirt with a brown vest. Thus earning him the nicknames Purple-pants, and Giggles. He also had a macaw parrot, which he named Wiggles. Colleen adored the parrot, and even more adored poking fun at Thomas' last name.

Once on the island the crews met up and the Captain's handed out orders.

"Alright scum!" barked out Captain Bonney. "Go around in pairs and scout the island for a source of water, then come back here and wait for everyone else to return so we can go and get it. Also if you find any wild boar, or anything edible whatsoever, take your pistol and pull the trigger."

At this time the hand of one of the Fortune's crew members went up.

"Yes, Harwood, what is it?" groaned Bonney.

"Is you sayin' you wants us to kill ourselves, Capt'n?" he asked face contorted in obvious confusion.

The silence that ensued was interrupted only by the chirping of a native insect.

"What?" questioned Harwood looking around innocently.

"Do you really think I want you to kill yourselves if you see food?" asked Bonney.

"Eh?...No?"

"Right!" she exclaimed as if speaking to a child.

Harwood was not the brightest tool in the shed, nor did he look it. He was rather big and blundering, but short. He had a long scruffy beard that looked like a continuation of the hair on his head, brown and frizzy.

The entire Fortune crew was in stark contrast to the beauty of their two female captains.

Anne was tall and had flowing blonde hair. With piercing blue eyes, that matched her fiery temper. She was vicious and dangerous, and has never worn a woman's clothing ever. She 

wore a light blue vest on top of a light-fabriced shirt, and a pair of tan sailor's pants. She also had a tri-cornered hat that she sometimes used to disguise herself as a man when she really needed to.

Mary Reade was a short and petite woman with the soul of a Fury. She had rust colored hair down to her shoulders, and green eyes. She wore a similar outfit to Anne, and they both had matching tattoos with their separate initials adorning the other woman's arm. Like one many sailors got of their girlfriends, except this relationship was much surer in lasting a life-time. The two women were hardly ever seen far apart, and when they were it was never for long.

Finally the hunt was started and the pairs of pirates disappeared into the woods. Bea and Gert had gone together which placed Colleen with Diggles. Neither of them seemed to mind.

Colleen and Thomas trekked through the thick undergrowth, with only a minimum of protection, Colleen's rapier, and Thomas' dagger and pistol. The entire way they joked with each other, poking fun at other crew members, the captains, and themselves. At last they happened upon a pond. It was nestled in with many exotic plants and trees, and a waterfall kept the pond fresh as a little stream carried water down to the shore. Thomas and Colleen had found themselves almost tumbling headlong into the pond on the cliff near the waterfall. How the pair had missed the sound of the rushing water neither really knew, nor really cared, they'd found water and could report back to their captains successfully, that was all that mattered at the moment. Before heading back the pair decided to wet their head-scarves to keep them cool, but soon the topic of a swim came up and Thomas began to strip of his outer garments.

"Are you insane?" Colleen cried. As Diggles' boots came off and were thrown in a heap next to him.

"No, just hot." He replied curtly. "Come on Colleen, it'll be fun! Besides no one else will be looking for us for a while, we can spend a few minutes. And I won't try anything."

Colleen looked embarrassed. "It's not that." She whispered.

"Then what is it?" He said standing, his vest and scarf had come off leaving his trousers and loose fitted shirt.

"I-I-I don't know how to swim…" Colleen stammered as Thomas dragged his shirt off. Colleen blushed at this, having only sailed with women before seeing a man without a shirt was a bit daunting, and although she was a pirate she was still a fairly innocent teenage girl. Her only knowledge of men coming from what she overheard Bea and Meg drag out of Gert in late night girl-talks. Usually with Enid blushing a nearly as crimson color next to her.

"So let me get this straight." He said, "You're a pirate, a sea-faring pirate… And you can't swim? What would happen to you if your ship ever sank?!"

"Isn't that what the long boats are for?" She said pointedly.

Thomas sighed. "Come on Colleen, I'm teaching you t' swim." He held his arms out at her as if to guide a small child down a flight of stairs.

"But what if I start to drown!? You don't know how deep that water is!" Colleen shouted backing away from him.

"Then I'll save you!" He said, "Come on we haven't got all day, if it'll make you feel any better I'll go in first and test how deep it is then you can come in. Alright?"

Colleen shrugged and looked away.

She turned surprised when she heard a splash from far below her. She peered down over the cliff's edge just to make sure Thomas hadn't killed himself. He surfaced a moment later and wiped his face of the excess water then beckoned to Colleen:

"Come on! Take off your boots at least and get down here! The water's amazing!"

"Alright, alright!" Colleen said beginning to undress.

The only layers that came off were her bandana, vest, boots, and pants. Her far-too-big-for-her shirt covering her well enough for decency's sake.

Colleen then backed up a few stepped said a silent prayer, and started running at the cliff with a shriek.

"You don't have to go that way!" Colleen heard Thomas shout from below her as she fell through space.

Colleen continued to scream all the way down until it was muffled by a loud splash. Colleen felt the water close over her head and the panic fill her as her lungs began to scream for air. Suddenly she felt a hand close over her wrist and pull her up to the surface.

Colleen gasped as her head broke into the air. Her heart pounded in her ears louder than she panted for breath.

"Jesus Colleen," she barely heard Thomas say, "You're gonna give me a heart attack one of these days!"

Colleen started to giggle beside herself. Thomas looked a little stricken that she was laughing after a near-near-death experience.

"You lied you know!" she shouted at him, "This water's freezing!"

Thomas had to laugh this time. He then began to move her into the shallow water so she would learn to swim where she could touch bottom if she wanted to. Their lesson went on for about an hour, the entire time Thomas was naked save for his trousers, and Colleen's linen shirt was not really doing a good job covering her in the constant flow of water. He was still holding on to her as well, and Colleen, having grown up with almost no exposure to the opposite sex, was growing uncomfortable being so close to a man.

Finally Thomas dragged her into the deeper water to make her actually swim. Colleen being 1, a fast learner, and 2, pressed for time, was picking up how to stay afloat fairly well.

Thomas had a hold of Colleen's hands and both were giggling for no apparent reason, then they were giggling because they were giggling. Both swimmers were obviously enchanted by the simple magic of the moment, before a sudden crash through the trees sent the two of them leaping away from each other in a splash of water.

"Oi! Thomas! Y' found water!" shouted Harwood as he ungracefully clambered through the tropical plants. Then he caught sight of Colleen blushing slightly while floating near Thomas. "Oh, I didn't mean t' be interrupting nothin'." He said chuckling lewdly.

Thomas and Colleen looked at each other puzzledly then shouted in disgust and threw themselves farther away from the other.

Harwood's companion in the expedition swaggered up slowly, his arms folded in front of his chest as he chuckled. His name was Joseph Corner, and he thought himself to be more than he actually was, simply because he was in favor with Rackham. He was bald, but by choice carefully shaving his head every morning while keeping his goatee perfectly trimmed. He had brown eyes and was very tall, and mostly wore a red bandana around his head to keep it from 

burning under the searing heat of the ocean sun, he also usually wore grey pants and a long white night-shirt and a dark blue long jacket that had its sleeves cut off.

"So Thomas never thought I'd see the day you found yerself a girl." He said laughing still.

Colleen hissed and glared at the two men.

"Come on yous twos," Corner said beckoning them out from the water. "It's time to report to the captains."

Thomas and Colleen then followed orders and exited the pond and put on their outer garments again before the four set off in the direction of the beach. However when they arrived, all but the long boats were gone. The camp fires that had been set up by the captains while waiting had been left unattended still simmering in their own ashes. Bottles of liquor and water had been left willy-nilly, something that any pirate wouldn't do unless under the most dire of circumstances… or upon being captured.

The group searched the campsite from top to bottom, what they found were the bodies of several indigenous looking bodies, signs of a scuffle, and a fresh trail of tracks through the jungle. The decision about whether or not to follow the tracks led to an argument between the four. Corner and Harwood said that they should row back to the ships and get help from the other crews; Colleen loudly protested that they should follow the tracks now before the captains were killed. Thomas provided an answer to the situation.

"Alright, I have an idea," he began, "Harwood, Corner why don't you two row back to the ship and get reinforcements and then come back here and follow the tracks."

"Thomas, if they do that the captains could be dead! I don't know about you but I'm going after them!" Colleen said before turning to stalk off into the jungle.

"I wasn't finished Colleen!" Thomas said, stopping her dead in her tracks. "I was going to suggest that you and I follow the tracks and try to scout the situation before the others get there and then try to come up with a plan when they arrive. Deal?"

Colleen turned giving Thomas a sour look, then she reached forward and shook his out-stretched hand, but not without crossing her fingers behind her back.

With that Colleen dashed into the jungle to follow the trail with Thomas trying in vain to keep up, while Corner and Harwood began to row out to the other ships.

Thomas and Colleen followed the tracks to a small village in the interior of the island; Thomas thought to leave a trail for the others to be able to follow more clearly than the tracks. He left scraps of cloth from his bandana tied to the tree branches then pieces of Colleen's bandana when his was gone, then bits of his shirt and pants. Finally the two reached the village at which time Thomas looked like he had been marooned on the island for about twenty years. Colleen couldn't help but giggle at his appearance, his pants were now up past his knees but that wasn't the funny part, his shirt looked like it had been in a fight with a wild animal and lost, holes were ripped in the middle, the sleeves were gone, and the bottom of the shirt now exposed most of his torso.

The two traversed the perimeter of the village cautiously until they got sight of several cages in which all of the crew members on the island and the captains were being held. There was also a large un-lit bonfire in the middle of the "village green" where a cauldron of water stood. People, most of them covered in body paint danced around the fire to the beating of a drum letting out a loud whooping. Some others were carrying large bundles of sticks and arranging them around the bonfire making it larger. Anne Bonney, Captain Kidd, and Rackham 

stood tied together in the center of the pot. Anne was shouting every curse word she knew, which added a bit of vocabulary to both of the young-pirates minds, Captain Kidd was trying in vain to get the ropes undone from around his wrists, and Rackham was cowering a bit looking vaguely like he'd peed himself.

"Um, Colleen?" Thomas asked.

"Yes, Thomas?" she replied.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Depends, were you thinking, 'great bloody scot they're going to try and eat the captains!' Then yes, I am thinking what you're thinking."

"Let me try again. Um, Colleen?"

"Yes, Thomas?"

"I think I have a plan."

A half an hour later all the preparations had been set up. Thomas and Colleen had back-tracked back to the campsite only to discover that their reinforcements hadn't even arrived yet, but that there were extra weapons and yards of rope to set up at least a small trap. So they'd taken what they could hold and gone back to that village.

After about a quarter of an hour they were ready, which was well because the bonfire that had been set up under the captains was almost done. Thomas and Colleen stood hidden in the jungle. Thomas sent Wiggles off to warn the others in the cages to be ready to go.

The parrot flew down to the village and circled the cages croaking, "Hoist the main-sail! Hoist the main-sail, ye scurvy dogs before I skin the lot o' ya!"

Colleen glanced with an incredulous look at Thomas who shrugged and whispered, "The Captains yell that all the time… Wiggles jus' repeats what he hears!"

Colleen rolled her eyes before turning them back to the village, setting her sights on a target, one of the men in body-paint dancing around the bonfire. She cocked her rifle and aimed carefully.

Among the extra-weapons retrieved were about seven rifles, and four pistols, each with about enough gun powder and bullets to get off one round before being rendered useless. Thomas was the best marksman on his ship and frequently spent ship raids in the rigging picking off enemies from a distance. Colleen wasn't as good as him, but was good enough to hit a target. The remaining five rifles had been set up in hidden areas in the trees so that Thomas could cover, and provide enough of a distraction for Colleen to slip into the village, free everyone and then they would all make a run for the ships. It was a simple plan but it was all they had time for.

Colleen waited for Thomas' signal to fire. Watching ever so carefully as the villagers danced around the bonfire where several Captains were almost hopelessly trapped. Suddenly Colleen heard Thomas say, "Now!" and her finger moved before she had time to register what she was doing. The gun went off in her hands and one of the villagers went down, shot in the leg. Not the one she had been aiming for, but it worked just the same.

"Colleen go!" Thomas shouted, bringing her out of her day-dreaming. And in a flurry of leaves and twigs Colleen was off, barreling through the trees around the village to try and free her friends.

Thomas on the other hand was running in the opposite direction, for their gun fire had sent the villagers running after the invisible attackers after they had gotten their wits back. 

Thomas ran to and climbed up the tree where the next rifle was stored. Hopefully he would remain well hidden enough to not be caught, but still be able to see so that Colleen could do her part.

Colleen made her way around the village and to the cages with relatively no difficulty. There were still two men guarding the cages when the village had gone after the shots, not leaving their prized possessions for the taking. Colleen took steady aim with one of her pistols, something she was better at firing. So when she pulled the trigger one of the men went down, then other soon followed, with little more than a small shout of alarm before they hit the ground dead.

Moving cautiously up to the cages she decided against using the remaining two bullets to open the iron-locks. Instead she gripped the pistol by the barrel and knocked the pommel against the lock breaking the mechanism inside then undoing it from the door. She received many words of thanks and encouragement from the prisoners escaping before they went to the pile of weapons not far from them to retrieve their effects. Then she moved on to the second cage which held her family.

"How'd you avoid being captured Colleen?" asked Captain Killigrew.

"I took a detour." Was all Colleen would reply, as she broke that lock too.

In the final cage was a group of women Colleen didn't know. They were all dressed in beautiful dresses and seemed a bit more fragile and scared than any of the pirates.

"Shall I free them too, Captain?" Colleen asked walking up to it and peering in at the six or so ladies who peered back at her, one however had a decidedly un-friendly glare that made her look vaguely like a bulldog.

"Yes, Colleen." Replied Elizabeth, "They'll do us no harm. In fact we've made a deal with them. We'll be lettin' 'em off at Shipwreck Cove, then they'll barter their way onto a boat bound for Boston… They're missionaries Colleen, be nice…"

Colleen made a skeptical face looking back at the huddling, whimpering group, but beat the lock away at her Captain's bidding.

The first one to exit spoke to Colleen directly. She was a small girl, shorter than Colleen but she had more spirit than could ever be assumed. The woman had light brown hair that was tied in a tight braid down her back and she had sparkling green eyes. Like the other women she wore a simple dress, navy blue with a tiny bit of lace at the high-neckline and wrists. Colleen had no idea how she or any of the others were able to remain conscious in that dress with the heat, they were no doubt laced into corsets as well making breathing that much more hard.

"Thank you!" she said almost as if she were out of breath. "We've been here for almost a week and the natives on this island seemed more pleased to eat us than to listen to our teachings… They've already eaten two of our company! My dear uncle Reverend Tasker, and the youngest of us, Susannah Potter... poor poor Susannah… such a horrible death…"

The woman's face seemed very distraught and the other women who had gathered like a flock of geese behind her were nodding and muttering with sadness.

"My name is Lucy Tasker!" the girl then said happily, offering Colleen her hand.

Colleen took it with another still skeptical stare before saying, "Colleen, Colleen Killigrew, quartermaster of the good ship Pendennis."

"Why I am pleased to meet you Colleen, and I'm sure that we will make splendid friends!" she replied.

"Well I don't think so!" piped up one of the other ladies who was a bit more dirty, and grubby, and worn than the others. She had shoulder-length messy and tangled brown hair, a dirty face, and big brown eyes. Everything about her gave off an air of the marooned. "Poor little Ally knows all about pirates, she does, and they's just nasty dirty-wirty scoundrally-scoundrals is all they are. Not a decent-folk bone in any of 'em!"

"Ally please!" said Lucy in an almost motherly tone, "That's not polite! Please forgive her she's a little crazy…"

"I know it ain't but it's not like any one o' them's gonna hear me now is it? Isn't that right island? Isn't that—oh!" Ally then caught sight of Colleen and had her hands up to her mouth and screamed so loud and shrilly that you'd sworn she'd been stabbed.

Directly after the ear-splitting scream from Ally, several angry shouts from the villagers could be heard moving back in the direction of the village.

The prisoners started to dash into the trees at the edge of the village and make their way back to the beach, but Colleen instead made her way to the center of the village right into the view of the villagers as soon as they returned to try and free the three remaining captains.

She tore to them as fast as she could and they were all yelling to her to help them. Knowing that time was running out, Colleen pushed the bonfire over toppling the cauldron of water and dumping the captains on the ground. Kidd and Anne were able to get to their feet and started the run for the trees while Rackham was still attached to the poles on their backs. Since he had been the one they'd landed on, he'd had the harder time getting up and still was. Colleen chased after them drawing her knife and detaching Rackham from the others. He promptly fell to the ground somehow managing to take Colleen with him.

Still in the middle of the village Colleen and Captain Rackham found themselves trapped by the time they'd untangled themselves and managed to stand up. They stood back-to-back unable to move anywhere due to the fact that there were two dozen or so villagers pointing spears, a variety of knives, drawn bows, and poisoned darts at them. Colleen was lightly armed with two pistols each with one shot, her knife, and sword. Rackham on the other hand had nothing; his weapons had been taken from him when he was captured.

Suddenly there was a gunshot and the man closest to Colleen keeled over dead. All eyes turned to the trees and a grin formed on Colleen's face, Thomas would be a definite help.

"Hey girly?" Rackham said behind her. "You have any bright ideas?"

"Me?!" she exclaimed, "_You're_ the captain!"

"Yeah, but _I_ don't have any weapons!"

Colleen groaned and tossed him her knife.

"This doesn't help matters I hope you realize." He said.

"Yeah well, it's all I've got."

Then Colleen fired one of the two pistols into the mull of villagers and took another one down. There was another gun shot from a slightly different direction showing that Thomas was moving from one hiding spot to the next as fast as possible to try and save his captain and friend. Colleen then fired the last pistol and then drew her sword.

"Any final words Rackham?" she asked hoping that Thomas could keep them confused for just another second or two.

"Only this," he replied, then shouted. "Nice to see you Anne!"

Colleen turned in the direction Rackham was facing and sure enough, Anne Bonney had gotten the crews to turn around and come back to save them. Both Colleen and Rackham gave an audible sigh of relief, and Thomas would have had he been in ear-shot of anyone.

Frankly upon seeing the pirates return armed and dangerous the villagers' first response was to turn and flee, leaving Colleen and Rackham to watch them go. However their second response was to turn right back around and go after their captives and try to re-capture them, leaving Colleen and Rackham and all the other pirates to turn right around and flee themselves.

Colleen had never run so fast in her life, she and Rackham had closed the distance between themselves and the others in ten seconds, and kept on going. Colleen was quickly at the head of the pack bounding through the thick jungle. She was vaguely aware of Thomas' yells from behind her as he met up with them.

Upon reaching the beach the pirates clambered into the four remaining long boats. Seven new ones were just reaching the shore with reinforcements for saving the pirate captives. These new ones were forced to take on several new passengers and row as fast as humanly possible back to the ships.

Colleen looked back to the island once on the long boat and watched as the natives jumped up and down in a fit of rage on the shore calling out to them.

"That's it!" Rackham said angrily, once aboard his ship. Colleen had gotten into the first long boat she'd seen and had ended up on the wrong ship. She was now serving duty on the Fortune as a deck-hand. "The next time we try to land on an island, we use charted ones!"

"Jack…" Anne groaned. "There are no charted islands in the pacific… at least none on our maps; do you really want to starve to death or die of thirst?"

"…it's better than being roasted alive!" he retorted.

"Really Jack, all we have to do is carry more weapons is all, and keep the men better prepared for the worst!" she said walking over to him and rubbing her hands down his chest.

Colleen was still getting used to the public displays of affection commonly put on display by two of the captains. They were still making her feel slightly queasy though.

"Had enough yet?" Thomas asked coming up to her, and handing her a pilfered apple.

"What are you talking about I can barely get enough…" she said in a sarcastic drawl.

"So your Captain doesn't do this?"

"There are no men on board to do this to, and none of us have much of a fancy for women…"

"Oi! You two, chatter brains! Enough flirting! Get back to work!" railed Captain Rackham.

"Aye, aye Captain!" replied Thomas snapping to attention, "I'll talk to you later Colleen."

Colleen went back to mopping the deck with the apple still gripped between her teeth, wishing desperately for a way back to her own ship, her own bunk, her own family, and her own job. But unfortunately islands in the Pacific were few and far between, and Colleen had to put up with this for another week before they stopped again for provisions. When she did Colleen was greeted ecstatically by everyone on the ship, partly because they missed her, and mainly because no one wanted to continue doing her job.

The ladies from the island had made their way onto this ship and were making themselves useful by cleaning up, patching clothes, and cooking. This was a rare commodity on 

a pirate ship and the ladies were finding themselves in high demand throughout the five crews. Eventually they were split up and shared amongst the ships.

The rest of the Pacific-leg of the journey passed without much event. But as they rounded the Strait of Magellan, and sailed up the coast of Argentina and Brazil, Captain Kidd's crew began to prepare for a fierce betrayal to come.

**A/N: Third chapter will be up in a while… After I formulate what exactly will be taking place… good chance of a storm and a sea-battle! Hope you enjoyed.**

**Boshi**


	3. Chapter 3: The Traitors and the Fire

**A/N: Chapter 3 is up. I'm enjoying writing this so expect another update soon. Although I should be working on my other ones too… oh well…**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS.**

Hoist the Colors: Chapter 3

The Fire and the Traitors

Fifteen men on a dead man's chest

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

Drink and the devil had done for the rest

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

The mate was fixed by the bosun's pike

The bosun brained with a marlinspike

And cookey's throat was marked belike

It had been gripped by fingers ten;

And there they lay, all good dead men

Like break o'day in a boozing ken

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

Colleen crooned, her Welsh accent heavy from the gin the crew had shared in a small celebration. No one knew what anyone was celebrating but the liquor was welcome company anyway.

The crew of the Pendennis sat hunched over their mugs and tankards in the cozy galley of the ship. In reality no one was celebrating, everyone was just passing the time, and passing further into the despair that alcohol can bring upon you if not drunken with the right attitude. Colleen especially, she had been thinking about Gabriel lately and about everything they'd done together as children, and how it'd been three years not hearing from him.

"So Colleen," Bea said suddenly jerking Colleen out from within herself. "What's your answer?"

They had been playing a drinking game that had slowly descended into simply drinking and asking personal questions of each other. The entire crew was involved including the captain, but none of them were really interested anymore.

"What was the question again?" Colleen asked.

Bea sighed obviously annoyed, "Have you ever been in love?"

Colleen was taken aback by the question's undeniable skill for reading her mind.

"Yes." She replied slowly, "Yes, once… a long time ago." There was finality in her voice, as if she'd made up her mind about something.

In fact, that was exactly what had transpired. With that statement Colleen had answered a question she had been asking herself. Was Gabriel, the boy she'd fallen for all those years ago, really worth waiting for? And more importantly, did she really still love him or was she just telling herself that? So upon answering Bea she'd figured something out for herself. She decided that Gabriel, though she had once loved him, was not coming back, and that she should move on.

"Really Colli?" Enid gasped. "Tell us about it!!"

"Well…" Colleen groaned, the subject was painful enough to think about, never mind talk about.

"Colleen, really now that you have us interested you have to tell us." Bea said.

Colleen sighed before starting to talk. "I met him when I was about nine. I was running from my brothers and his friends as usual. They were 

torturing me, again as usual, and I ran out into the street and through the town with them chasing me the entire way, something that was not as per usual. Before I knew it I was backed into an alley with the boys bearing down on me. Of course I was ready to fight at this point and was already planning it out. When suddenly, there was someone behind the boys. 'Let her go.' The person said. At this point everyone's eyes focused on this person. He wasn't tall at the time or all that good looking but he was gutsy, and obviously had a sense of chivalry, and he was aiming a pistol right at my brother's head... After that day we became the best of friends, and eventually he told me he loved me. That was the last time I ever saw him… You see he got old enough, and joined the Royal Navy, he failed at that and joined on as a sailor on Captain Kidd's privateering crew. He wrote me letters, sent me souvenirs from ports he visited… for about a year. I figure he's dead, or all the 'romance' we once shared a childish-crush on his part… so that's the story of my once-true-love…"

When Colleen finished everyone was silent. None of them had had any idea of anything like this ever occurring to her, nor ever heard of this mysterious boy.

"What was his name?" Captain Killigrew asked when no one else would speak, too sad to say anything.

Colleen didn't reply for a long time. The finally she said ever so softly, in a voice just above a whisper, "Gabriel, his name was Gabriel. And that's the thing that got me I think… he had the name of an angel, 'my Guardian Angel,' I used to call him…"

After this the party broke up and reported to their various duties for the night. Colleen and Bea were on first watch, so they made their way up to the crow's nest and sat in it lazily. Colleen sang another tune, and Bea whittled with her knife in an old piece of barrel wood. Eventually Hannah came up to join them, after being thoroughly sick overboard.

"Colleen?" she asked quietly. "Did all that stuff you said tonight really happen to you?"

Colleen nodded slightly, keeping up her tune. Her gaze slowly shifted from the horizon, to the stars above them. And her thoughts drifted to another time, another place, a time when she wasn't a pirate, and was still a girl.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Colleen woke with a start, her long light brown hair was cast about her face and shoulders and sun glinting off the honey colored highlights in her hair. The fifteen year old girl eased her arms out from under her pillow and rolled over with a yawn and a stretch. She put her hand to her head and squeezed her eyes shut against the sun light hitting her full in the eyes.

'You forgot to close the drapes again.' She chided herself. Then her mind exploded when she realized what day it was and how late it must be.

She flew out of her bed and to her wash basin, splashing her face with the water. Then she tore to her wardrobe and threw out the dress she's planned to wear for this day, it was blue and yellow and Gabriel's favorite. Peeping her head out of her door for an instant she spied one of her family's maids and called over to her.

"Nam," she called, "Will you help me dress?"

Nancy Ridgedale was actually her nurse from her childhood, and was still a maid at the Killigrew estate. Colleen and her brothers had been a terror when they were younger, but Nancy or Nam as the children called her adored them all regardless. She was a round woman, but very tall, so she could be all sugar and softness, and then turn to daunting and intimidating.

The older woman sighed and toddled into Colleen's room helping her into her chemise, corset, and to get her various petticoats and eventually the dress itself situated on Colleen's small frame. Colleen squirmed and struggled asking if Nam could please hurry or Colleen would miss the send off. Nam just tutted and continued to lace Colleen into her clothing.

Finally, after what seemed like hours to Colleen, Nam was done, and Colleen shot out of her room as fast as she could in her painful shoes through the halls of her family's house and down through the kitchen where her mother stopped her.

"And where might you be off to in such a hurry?" the woman said not looking up from the newspaper she was reading. Colleen's mother was a modern one, finding all the latest fashions, insisting on being up to date on all the latest news, and yet she still insisted on Colleen acting like a caged bird, or rather a bird with its wings already clipped.

"To the docks Mum." Colleen replied, "Gabriel's ship is leaving port today… I'd like to say good-bye."

"Without having breakfast?" her mother said putting down her newspaper.

"I'm afraid I must," said Colleen, putting on the air of being proper for just a moment, "But you see their ship is leaving at high tide which is less than a half an hour away, so you see mother, I'm afraid I must go, but I promise to sit and do needle-point and take tea with you as soon as I return."

"How long are you planning on being gone?!" her mother exclaimed, tea was still almost half the day away.

"Uh, well…" Colleen stuttered, "I meant that I would be back in time for it so no need to fret." Colleen slipped out the door before another word could leave her mother's mouth.

The only thing that kept her from sprinting to the dock was the fact that she was wearing painful shoes. Her home was located on the outskirts of Cardiff and she had spent many hours just playing in the fields of the Killigrew estate. The Killigrews were situated all over Wales' coast line, Colleen just happened to be born into the part of the family that lived here. She had many cousins in the area including Bea and Enid.

Colleen finally made it into town and to the tavern that Gabriel had asked her to meet him at. Once inside she found a seat in the back and waited for him to show up. She was very self-conscious about her appearance, a fairly wealthy girl, in a fairly lowly tavern. She had to chase away several men before Gabriel finally showed up.

"Colleen!" he said upon seeing her.

"Gabriel!" she called back standing. "I was beginning to worry that I'd missed you!"

"No, you're right on time." He reassured her. "Come, this isn't where I wanted to take you."

He then ushered her out of the tavern and through the streets of Cardiff until he came to a small house wedged in between two larger ones. It was made of dark weathered wood and the panes of glass were waved. Gabriel led her to the front door and knocked three times.

"Gabriel, is this--?" Colleen whispered. In all the years she'd known him, never had Colleen seen Gabriel's home or met his family.

"My house? Yes." He replied just before an elderly woman still in her nightgown answered the door. She had a round face and spectacles on top of her head and night cap.

"Who's there?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"It's me Grandma, Gabriel." Gabriel replied softly.

"Why can't I see you?" the old woman asked. Gabriel sighed and reached forward bringing the spectacles onto his grandmother's eyes. "Oh! There you are!" she cried with delight. "And who is this?" the old woman asked catching sight of Colleen.

"This, Grandmother," Gabriel said, pulling Colleen forward by her elbow. "Is my best friend, Colleen Killigrew."

The old woman stared knowingly at her and then turned to wink at Gabriel before letting them both in.

Colleen was introduced to Gabriel's two sisters, and brother and to his father, his mother had passed away several years ago, which was what had caused them to move to Cardiff, that and their grandmother's failing eyesight.

After a few hours of talking and a brief lunch, Gabriel said it was time for him to go to the docks. He said tearful good-bye to his family and then he and Colleen left his house and walked to the docks, hand in hand.

"You know I was beginning to think they didn't exist with how you never introduced me…" Colleen said jokingly.

"I'm sorry, it just never seemed like the right time to me." He replied.

There was a comfortable silence until they reached the dock where many farewells were being said. When Gabriel turned to Colleen and said:

"Now I'd offer to walk you home, but you probably wouldn't accept it."

"No, I want to see you off proper." She replied.

"Colleen," Gabriel said, and licked his lips hesitantly, he moved them to a bench outside of a store and took her hands in his own. "I'd, I-I-I want, I'd like to tell you something."

"Yes?"

"Colleen, I…" He sighed, looked at his feet, looked back at Colleen, then looked at the sky and sighed again, then looked back to Colleen. "I love you."

"What?" Was all Colleen could manage to say.

"I love you." He said again, more confidently this time, "I didn't want to leave without telling you… since there is a chance I may never come back."

"Oh Gabriel…" Colleen sighed, "You're so down-right pessimistic!" Then she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

When she finished she leaned back a little and Gabriel smiled into her eyes and pulled her back in again, kissing her harder this time, more passionate, and less appropriately for the public setting they were in.

"I love you too." She whispered when he pulled away again.

They both stood and walked toward the dock knowing Gabriel had to leave. He signed his name onto the crew's book and then turned back to Colleen again before boarding.

"Here," He said simply, pushing a letter into Colleen's hands, his forehead was resting on hers. "something to read if you ever miss me. I'll write to tell you of my adventures and send them when we make port. Expect the next one in few months."

With that he hugged her and turned pulled away shouldering a sack of clothing and other belongings.

"Wait!" Colleen cried running up to him. Gabriel turned only to have Colleen nearly knock him off his feet, throwing her arms around him and kissing him hard on the lips. He returned the kiss with equal intensity before pulling away again. This time Colleen slipped something into his hand, her gold locket.

Colleen watched his ship leave port, and walked home by herself, grinning like a fool. Gabriel loved her. Nothing for the next few days could put her in a foul mood. Gabriel loved her. And he did send her letters. Over the next year and a half Colleen received parcels from Gabriel, often a dozen letters or so, plus a little trinket from the port they'd gone to. The parcel's stopped around the same time Colleen began sailing on the Pendennis, she'd taken her favorite of the letters with her and left the rest at home. But now, she wasn't so sure that Gabriel did in fact love her, it certainly didn't seem that way. The only two possible explanations were, he was dead, or he had found another girl. Both of which meant she should move on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The stars above them swayed with the rock of the ship and Colleen's gaze passed from them to the lights on the decks of the other ships. Her gaze lingered on the Fortune, and she found herself thinking of this most recent voyage, and the friends she'd made on it, as well as how little she'd seen of Kidd's crew.

'I should ask him,' she thought, 'what fate Gabriel had… it might finally give me some closure.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile on board the Adventure Galleon, the trappings of treachery were being put into place. The East India Trading Company had told Kidd to sabotage the mission, to kill as many of the pirates as possible, to take out as many ships, not to let the Pirate Lord of the North China Sea get to the Brethren Court, and most importantly, to tell them where the Brethren Court was being held. And Kidd was about to begin to meet his end of the bargain.

Captain William Kidd added the finishing touched to the letter to his wife and sealed it, intending to post it upon landfall. Then he headed out on deck where all of his crewmen were currently assembled.

Robert Lamley, Kidd's first-mate stepped forward and said, "The crew is ready when you are Captain." He was a young man, older than Gabriel, but not by much. He had shoulder length curly brown hair that was frequently tied back in a typical stylish ponytail. He was tall, taller than Kidd, with brown eyes, and a friendly attitude. Although he was a stickler for order, being a failed military officer, and could be forceful when he so desired.

"Thank you Mr. Lamley." The Captain said, "Tonight boys, we must do what is necessary, even though it may not be what we want… Alright everyone, to the longboats, we attack the Pendennis. First, sneak aboard with grappling hooks through the gun ports to keep the watch from seeing us. Once inside, set fire to as much of it as you can, and if possible, rig the powder magazine. Give no regard for the fact that they're women, they would most likely do the same to us given our situation."

"But what if they wouldn't?" a man named Starkey remarked.

"Well, we can't afford to think like that…" Kidd replied after a while. No one's heart was in this mission, not even the Captain's and everyone could tell. Something about killing these people, their people, was wrong, even given they're predicament.

Finally the crew was underway, laying low, and hardly rowing the longboats so as to not create any noise or waves. They were trying to be as stealthy as possible to steal onto a ship that was little more than a sloop.

Gabriel peered guiltily at the ship, as if the beautiful figure head was blaming him, sensing the imminent danger it was in, sensing its very-near doom, sensing that he was betraying the very person he loved most in the world. He had never felt so frightened or cowardly in his life, and he didn't know why. Gabriel had once been very brave, courageous, and daring, or at least pretended to be. But in the last few years he seemed to have grown overly cautious, and then over time cowardly. Even just thinking of Colleen, and what she would think of him now shamed and terrified him.

Perhaps it had been the military training he'd received during his short stay upon a navy vessel that had broken his spirit. He had once thought that the navy would prepare him to become a leader, and a man worthy of wedding one of the Killigrews. Instead it had broken him in to a life of abuse, strict rules, and the fear of the shame of being named a coward even though you really are. Somewhere inside him Gabriel still could feel his true nature lurking beneath the surface, but the haunting memory of his first lashing had scarred him and made it clear that the navy didn't want leaders, they wanted pawns. So that was what Gabriel had become in order to stay alive, and it shamed him. Now he would take an order, no matter how much he didn't agree with it, and see in out until the needs of his commander were met.

'I've lost all chance of ever being with her…' he thought as the long boats drifted closer to the ship, 'she's probably forgotten about me anyway. Oh well, it's for the better I supposed, _I_ wouldn't want me the way I am now.'

The crew of the Adventure Galleon pulled up alongside the ship and they threw grappling hooks into the gun ports and began to pull themselves up and in. Once inside the crew broke into groups each set to different tasks, several went to stealing provisions off the ship and stuffing them into bags to bring back to the longboats. Others went farther below deck into the powder magazine and began to set a charge to blow. A few others began to see to it that a good fire was being prepared.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

On board the Fortune Thomas Diggles walked on deck. Leaning out over the railing his gaze turned to the Pendennis, he was about to turn away and go back under when he realized something was wrong. There were longboats alongside the ship and people were climbing in through the gun ports.

"That can't be right." He muttered and he went up to Corner who was manning the helm. "Can I use the spy-glass?" he asked urgently.

"May I, Thomas, may I use the spy-glass." Corner said not even looking at him.

"MAY I use the spy-glass, Corner?"

"I dunno Thomas why do you need it?" The man drawled.

"Just give it to me you yellow-livered dog, this is important!"

Corner had never seen Thomas get that agitated so he handed over the spy-glass and Thomas turned back to the Pendennis. Through it he saw things that were not good. Men were throwing bags into the longboats, and several were carrying torches on the way up. Before he knew it he could see smoke coming from the gun ports. He dashed into the Captain's Quarters and immediately wished he hadn't.

"THOMAS!!" Anne raged, before chasing the boy on deck wielding a fire-poker and clad in a sheet.

"I'm sorry, Captain! It's just the Pendennis! It's under attack!" he said between hits.

Jack stormed on deck in his unbuttoned trousers a minute later and grabbed the spy-glass from Thomas.

"Mother and child…" he whispered, "The boy's right Anne!"

By this time the entire crew had assembled on deck to investigate the screeching noise they'd all heard. But were only greeted by angry orders to fire off a cannon in the direction of the Pendennis in an attempt to wake the women of the crew up. As the shot rang off the men of the longboats were alerted as well, and set to work faster. They dropped their torches in the nearest place that would catch and then bolted for their escape.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Colleen woke with a start, a loud cannon shot had woken her from the alcohol induced slumber. Bea and Hannah were stirring next to her as well. Looking down over the rail of the crow's nest she saw something that made her heart stop. Smoke billowing from the gun ports. Colleen immediately started screaming at the top of her lungs for everyone to wake up. She flew down the rigging and into the Captain's quarters.

"Captain!" she screamed, "Wake up! Someone's set fire to the ship!"

Captain Killigrew was awake in an instant. "Quick, Colleen! Wake everyone up! Prepare the longboats; grab anything we will need, leave anything else. On the double girl, on the double!"

Colleen raced through the ship waking everyone and telling them to grab their weapons and make for the longboats. Some woke more easily than others, but eventually Colleen made it to her own bunk and grabbed her collection of weapons and quickly opened her sea-chest, she grabbed her letters from Gabriel stuffed them in her vest pocket, and her jewelry in the other, leaving her extra clothes and items behind. She hurried back to the stairs several panes of glass from lanterns shattering in her face due to the intense heat of the fire now billowing around her. She made it on deck just as the second longboat was being prepared to lower and she clambered in quickly, with everyone inside shouting at her to hurry. Once in the water the two boats made for the other ships who were also alerted by the cannon fire.

Colleen's boat made for the Fortune and the crew was greeted on board by cups of water, warm blankets and words of concern and encouragement. At least they were all alive.

Colleen clambered on board and looked around almost helplessly, in about thirty seconds she had lost the one place she could ever really call home. Looking back to the ship it was almost completely engulfed in flames now, then the fire hit the powder magazine and there was a loud boom as the ship's hull was blow to ruins. Colleen flinched at this and stood staring at the broken fire-eaten wreck now about to sink to the bottom of the Atlantic.

Suddenly Colleen felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned to see Thomas looking at her sorrow etched onto his face. Colleen's tears finally escaped her eyes and she threw herself into his arms, Thomas looked surprised and tried to calm the crying girl down.

Captain Rackham was already making after the ship and crew responsible for the treachery. "Full canvas! All hands prepare to fire on the Adventure Galleon, she can't outrun us. Be prepared to board and take prisoners. If anyone resists, kill them immediately!"

Several cannons were fired in the direction of the Adventure Galleon which was now trying to make its get away. However Colleen only had eyes for the burning mass of wood that had once been her ship. The main mast had snapped and fallen into the dark waters surrounding it; already she could see it was taking on water at the stern. Perhaps that was from the powder magazine blowing a hole in the hull. But that was not the problem, because slowly ever so slowly at first, the ship began to slip under the waves, then in picked up speed until the burned wood snapped and cracked in two. The bow of the ship lingered afloat for a moment, the bow sprit staring into the heavens one last time before gliding beneath the waves. The only traces of their gallant ship left were the burning scraps of flotsam where the Pendennis had once proudly sailed.

Colleen felt her tears hot on her cheeks again and a sense of vengeance curl in her belly, as a blanket wrapped itself around her shoulders and a mug of spiced rum was pressed into her hands. The Killigrews were ushered to the galley of the ship and were told to let the crew of the Fortune, and the other crews take on Kidd, after all, they'd had a trying night already.

The Fortune, Black Dragon, and the Queen Anne's Revenge had the Adventure Galleon out-manned, out-gunned, and out-run in a matter of minutes. Yet the crew still put up a fight, knowing that their ship was shallower in draft and land was close by. In an attempt to lose the other ships they sailed a little too close to shore and ran aground along a reef. Rackham and the other captains were forced to send out long boats to rescue the drowning mutineers. Most of the crew had been killed, only seven of the twenty-three man crew made it into the brig of the Fortune.

When the crew was dragged on board they stood and faced the people they had betrayed most fiercely. Colleen stood with Bea, Enid, and Gert, the others of the Pendennis had rowed to the Black Dragon. So the four were forced to face the betrayers alone, and almost uninhibited.

Captain Kidd had survived, and he was the first to be paraded to the brig, then two other men Van der Heul the Dutchman, and Owens an Englishman, first mate Robert Lamley, came next, along with Barleycorn and Starkey. One of the last men to be dragged from the sea was Gabriel Loffe. When he was pulled up from the long boat and onto the deck he stumbled and hit the deck face first. Upon kneeling he locked eyes with none other than Colleen. Gabriel's expression went to sheer agony upon seeing her, but Colleen's went from a brief moment of joy at seeing him, then to a horrible second of realization and pain, then finally to utter hatred.

Colleen lunged forward with an inhuman cry of rage. She dragged Gabriel to his feet and punched him back down, then flew at him again beating him, clawing at him, kicking him, anything that could express the feeling that was tearing at her heart at the moment. All the time swearing at him in Welsh. If it hadn't been for several crew members of the Fortune pulling her back she may have killed him then and there.

"Colleen, wait!" they said to her, "We're bringing them to the Brethren Court for trial! You'll have your justice I promise you!"

She stared at him through wild eyes, as he struggled to stand. His lip was bleeding and one eye was beginning to show signs of a bruise. His cheek was also swollen from her punches. All he could manage to gasp before being led below deck was:

"I'm sorry."

Colleen then straightened and brushed herself off. When she turned back to the crews they had a look of sheer shock on their faces.

"Colleen, was that--?" Bea started.

"Gabriel Loffe." She replied curtly, "The cur who claimed to love me…"

**A/N: Taa daaaaa! Hope you enjoyed it. It took me a while to figure out how to make this chapter longer when I was writing it, cause I was done and it was much shorter than the others, so I threw in the flashback. **

**Next Chapter: Doldrums, and what's this? More treachery! Oh no! **


	4. Chapter 4: Doldrums and Shipwreck Island

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS OR PLACES.

Hoist the Colors:

Chapter 4: The Doldrums and Shipwreck Island

For to see mad Tom of Bedlam

Ten thousand miles I've travelled

Mad Maudlin goes on dirty toes

For to save her shoes from gravel.

Still I sing bonnie boys, bonnie mad boys

Bedlam boys are bonnie,

For they all go bare and they live by the air

And they want no drink nor money.

I went down to Satan's kitchen

For to fetch me food one morning

And there I got souls piping hot

All on a spit a-turning

Still I sing bonnie boys, bonnie mad boys

Bedlam boys are bonnie,

For they all go bare and they live by the air

And they want no drink nor money.

My staff has murdered giants

My pack a long knife carries

For to cut mince pies from children's thighs

And to feed them to the fairies.

Still I sing bonnie boys, bonnie mad boys

Bedlam boys are bonnie

For they all go bare and they live by the air

And they want no drink nor money.

The spirits hot as lightening

Shall on my travels guide me

And the Earth doth quake and the moon doth shake

Whenever they a-spy me.

Still I sing bonnie boys, bonnie mad boys

Bedlam boys are bonnie

For they all go bare and they live by the air

And they want no drink nor money.

No gypsy slut of a doxie

Shall win my mad Tom from me

I'll weep all night, with the stars I'll fight

And the fray shall well become me.

Still I sing bonnie boys, bonnie mad boys

Bedlam boys are bonnie

For they all go bare and they live by the air

And they want no drink nor money

So here's to Tom of Bedlam

Go fill the seas in a barrel

I'll drink it all well brewed with gall

And Maudlin drunk I'll quarrel.

Still I sing bonnie boys, bonnie mad boys

Bedlam boys are bonnie

For they all go bare and they live by the air

And they want no drink nor money.

Still I sing bonnie boys, bonnie mad boys

Bedlam boys are bonnie

For they all go bare and they live by the air

And they want no drink nor money.

Colleen sang to herself as she walked on deck in a simply self-loathing mood. It was night time and she had a mug of rum in her hand. It wasn't her watch, and she was supposed to be in her hammock, but recently she'd been finding it very hard to sleep due to the betrayal she had suffered. She really wanted to talk to them-- or to him rather, to ask why they-- why he, had done what they'd—he'd done. She wasn't sure about anything yet, so she'd tried Maud's way of calming down and so far… it _was_ helping.

The three ships now making their way to Shipwreck Cove had just made it to the Caribbean and were making good time. The Captains estimated only another five days to a week of travel before reaching the island, which was very good news since their stores were getting frighteningly low. The last barrels of liquor were being rationed, salted pork, pickles, eggs, and hardtack made up their daily diet. Things were grim in that respect, among others. The Killigrews seemed to be taking the loss of the Pendennis quite hard; all of the women were still a little down, but none so down as Colleen.

Colleen heard some footsteps behind her as she leaned out over the rail gazing at the stars, pleading with them for guidance in life as they did with sailing.

"You know," the familiar voice said, "You should really be in bed now."

"So should you, Thomas." Colleen replied.

"True, but I just got off night duty and since I heard someone singing I figured I should get them back to bed… You're drinking too much too Colleen."

"What are you, my mother?" she snapped. Thomas looked hurt. "I'm sorry; I don't know what got into me." She whispered turning back to her mug and staring at her hands.

"Colleen, what's wrong? No one would take the loss of a ship this badly, no matter how attached you were. What's bothering you? I'm your friend Colleen, you can trust me!" When Colleen didn't answer he sighed and turned to go back below.

"Gabriel Loffe…" Colleen said quietly.

"What?" Thomas turned back to her.

"Gabriel Loffe, he is one of the prisoners… he was one of my best friends… he was once the boy I loved…" Colleen had turned to face Thomas and they stood half the deck apart, "So when I found out that he was one of the mutineers, naturally I must be upset, a little more so than everyone else…"

"I'm sorry Colleen." Was all Thomas could say before Colleen dumped the last of her rum overboard and pushed past him, going below deck and to bed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gabriel sat in the hull of the Fortune crowded in the small cell with six other men, in a space that smelled like something had died. He was on the way to his death, for that was surely going to be the verdict of a pirate jury, and yet he was surprisingly calm.

"You should be terrified…" he whispered to himself, "Come on Gabriel! Act like the coward you know you are!"

A soft singing voice reached his ears from above and he looked up. There was a small grate that served as their air hole and it looked up on deck. Since everyone else was asleep and the voice sounded hauntingly familiar Gabriel used the bars of the cell as a ladder and lifted himself up to the grate in the ceiling and listened as hard as he could. Finally he recognized the voice.

"Colleen." He breathed, nearly losing his grip on the bars holding him up. When he heard the song end he listened harder trying to figure out what had happened. Then he heard another boy's voice and Colleen reply to it.

Their conversation was faint and dim to Gabriel's ears but he heard enough to know what was going on. Colleen felt betrayed, she was angry, and she was hurt in a way that might mean he would never be forgiven. As she went back below deck she passed the grate and Gabriel got a look at her face, she was crying slightly. Gabriel lowered himself back to the floor and leaned his head back against the bars and closed his eyes; he had never felt worse in his life.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Two days passed and bad luck finally reared his ugly head again. The ships had hit doldrums… And for five days and five nights they sat horribly still, not a lick of wind to relieve them from the horrible heat of the tropical sun beating down on the decks. Water and food were now horribly scarce and every minute lasted an hour waiting for the wind.

On board the Black Dragon, Maud Killigrew was suffering a horrible headache, she was getting sober. This was a feeling she hadn't experienced in about twenty years, so she began to sneak away from her daughter and nieces to find the barrels of liquor she was sure Cheng kept on his ship. After the destroying of her ship Maud needed more liquor than usual for comfort, but without Colleen to pilfer the keys from, this was becoming much harder to accomplish. After hours of trying Maud finally pick-pocketed the quartermaster's keys and began to make her way down to the store room.

Since the Black Dragon was much larger than the Pendennis, it was harder to navigate. Maud stumbled and staggered through the vast underbelly of the ship, lying to other pirates about her reason for being there, stepping over the ones that had passed out from heat-stroke. Then finally finding the correct storeroom she slipped the key into the lock and opened the door.

Glancing behind her briefly to see if anyone was there she peered over the rims of her spectacles and then stumbled into the storeroom. Then she crept through looking for any barrel marked with the Chinese symbol for alcohol.

"Maudy Killigrew just what are you doing?" a shrill voice called from behind her. Maud froze and turned quickly hiding the stole key behind her back.

"I Sao? You old pig what are you doing here?" she called back.

"Well you cow I was just going to check on the amount of alcohol left in the barrels… and perhaps sample a bit to see if it is still good!" I Sao said slyly.

"Oh really? Well I was about to do the same! Care to join me?"

"Love to!"

Thus the two women sat down and finished off the last of the alcohol on the Black Dragon and suffered much reprimanding later.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Colleen lay out on the deck of the Fortune, the sun beating down on her head. Her skin had long ago taken on the color of a beet and was now peeling. Thomas was faring better but only because his skin was more darkly tanned than Colleen's in the first place. The entire crew was dying of thirst and couldn't bare another day rationed on water. Full grown men were dropping of heat stroke; they had already lost two and sent them to the sea.

"Well Jack, now what?" Anne asked him from within their cabin while pouring over charts.

"What do you mean 'now what'?" He snapped.

"I mean we still have another five days worth of travel with no wind, and a next-to-bear storeroom… that's what. Any ideas?"

"Oh so now I'm the boss when it's not in our favor… you never listen to me or ask my advice on a regular day! Why should I help you now?" He shouted.

"Because you'll die too if we don't figure something out you jack-ass!" she yelled back.

"Alright you two, enough!" Mary screamed. "I've had it up to here with the both of ya, so shut up! Don't worry, we'll think of something… or the wind will pick up."

"Or we'll all die of thirst!" Anne added.

"Aye or that…" Mary agreed.

Colleen lay as still as she possibly could in the shade of the mast. Thomas laid not far from her his lips dry and cracked; Colleen licked hers only to find the metallic taste of blood on them. She touched her finger to her lips and found dots of blood which she licked off for their liquid wetness.

She then flipped onto her back and hid her face in her arms, her entire body felt like it was cooking, but still not a lick of wind would save them from this hellishly slow, parched, drought-like death. She sighed and closed her eyes, waiting for the end to come.

Below her Gabriel and the rest of Kidd's crew weren't doing much better, when the meals had first gotten rationed the prisoners were the first to go without their food. A crust of bread and single cup of water had been their life source for the last few days. Each man felt weaker than a newborn, they were too weak to think, and too weak to even look up at the sky were the sun beat down through the bars of their lone window in their roof, where the sun still made its horribly hot slow march toward the horizon.

The night was still warm but it did give them a little relief, but still no wind. The entire crew slept on deck where the stars wheeled over head and served as steadfast guardians of the heavens. Colleen stared at them and begged them to send a wind, just a small one, before the gentle rocking of the ocean and the ship lulled her into sleep.

Colleen dreamed that night, she dreamed horrible things.

At first Colleen was running down a path in what looked like a cave, she was following a man with dreadlocks, a big grey coat, and he walked crookedly.

"Jack!" she cried, even though she didn't know his name, "Are you sure this is it, Jack?"

"Of course I'm sure! What do you take me for, a loony?" He called back.

Colleen just sighed and continued to follow him. Suddenly the cave path opened into a great room. In the center of the room stood a huge water fall, the water from above fell down the rock walls of the cave and fed the pool of water in the center. The water was illuminated to a brilliant blue hue by how the sunlight was reflected into the cave. The reflection of the water's light also bounced and danced along the cave walls and Colleen and Jack stood mesmerized for several moments.

"You found it Jack… The Fountain of Youth! You actually found it!" Colleen whispered.

Jack turned to her and flashed a devilish grin, "You doubted me didn't you love?"

Colleen smirked and replied, "Only a little…"

Suddenly the scene changed and she was in the company of many other people, she felt a hand on her arm and looking down it was Gabriel's.

"Gabriel! What are you doing?!" she cried.

"Colleen, stay close. That man is a maniac…" he hissed.

Colleen looked in the direction Gabriel was staring and started at the fact that she was looking down the barrel of a navy-man's pistol.

"So you're going to kill us Commodore?" a man with a large hat and a monkey sitting on his shoulder snarled.

"Not all of you…" the navy-man said calmly. Then before anyone could react he changed his target from Colleen to another woman and pulled the trigger. The bullet left the pistol and buried itself in the woman's chest.

"ELIZABETH!" a man with shoulder length brown hair cried his eyes full of absolute horror.

Suddenly the scene changed again and Colleen still stood behind Gabriel, this time however there was an exotic woman with dreadlocks and dots of make-up around her hypnotic eyes, who stood before the man with brown hair, and the woman who had just been shot. She was whispering something and the man fell to his knees clutching his chest in pain. When he stood again the women with honey colored hair pressed her hand to his chest and both of their faces broke out in joyous smiles. Suddenly however the dark-skinned woman turned on Gabriel and plunged a short knife into his chest.

"GABRIEL!" Colleen cried, trying to catch him as he began to pass from the world. She hovered over his face her hands going to touch him but then stopping, going to touch him again, but then stopping. Her voice was caught in her throat. "Gabriel," she whispered through her tears, "Gabriel!"

The scene again changed and now she was being held by Thomas as Gabriel's heart was cut out and placed in an oddly decorated chest. Then Gabriel's chest rose and fell and he got up slowly.

Colleen woke up then, or was woken rather. "Gabriel!" she cried sitting up far too quickly, she lay back down with a groan clutching her spinning head.

"Colleen?" Bea said concerned. "What's the matter? You okay?"

It was still dark out but she could make out the faces of those around her looking at her inquisitively through sleepy eyes. "Yea," she replied finally. "I'm fine, just a bad dream…"

She curled up again surprisingly chilled now. She fell back to sleep relatively easily and did not dream for the rest of the night.

The next day was just as hot and horrid as the last one. Still Mary, Anne, and Jack tried to think of something to do. Still was the food and water rationed. Still was there not a spit of wind. Still was there the blinding sun and damnable seagulls taunting them. What were new were the haunting memories of her dream. Unlike most of the time, she remembered it clearly as if it had actually happened.

She stood leaning over the rail of the ship watching the horizon as the water glittered like it had diamonds beneath its surface. Colleen thought long and hard about the dream. What happened in it? Who were all those people? Why was I so sad when Gabriel was stabbed? Don't I hate him? Who are Jack and Elizabeth? Could it be a premonition? Could it just be overactive nerves? Why do I care so much?

Colleen reached up and brushed the tendrils of hair out of her eyes that had blown into her face. Colleen stopped suddenly her eyes wide. She quickly licked her finger and turned around in a circle. Then sure enough, there was a cool wind blowing in from the South and it was growing stronger by the second.

"Wind!" She cried, joyfully, shifting her weight from one foot to the other impatiently. She could hardly decide what to do with herself there were so many thoughts buzzing in her mind. "Wind!"

Soon the entire crew had noticed it and was trimming the sails. The three captains came on deck and began to dance and laugh happily along with the rest of the crew.

There was a great whooping that came from the three ships as the wind picked up, the only people unhappy about this turn of events were the prisoners, because that meant their trial and doom was at hand.

The next few days flew by without a hitch, the wind was strong and out of the South, guiding them swiftly to Shipwreck Cove.

It was on the fifth day of travel when the lookout of the Black Dragon shouted, "Land-ho! Port bow!"

Everyone flocked to the left side of the ship and gazed out into the morning mist rising off the water, and there stood a great hulking rock of an island that was Shipwreck Cove.

"We made it!" Maud sighed to Hannah who was cradling the well-singed sea-cat whom she had saved at the last minute from the burning ship.

On the Fortune similar news was sweeping the crew and Colleen smiled for the first time in a few days. There was finally land to sleep on, plenty of drink, and food. Colleen turned to the southwest and looked at the rising sun painting beautiful streaks of color across the sky. Suddenly as it crested the horizon there was a flash of green. Colleen's eyes grew wide and she turned to go and tell someone what she saw and nearly ran into Captain Bonney.

"Good, Jack Sparrow has returned from the realm of the dead… and the Black Pearl."

"The Black Pearl? I thought that was only a legend." Colleen said. Anne walked up and watched the horizon.

"No, the Black Pearl only became a legend when Sparrow's first mate Captain Barbossa mutinied and sailed to the Isla De Muerta, where he picked up a chest of Aztec gold, and a curse with that."

"You can't be serious?" Colleen smirked, "I'm seventeen I don't believe in ghost stories anymore. Does Captain Rackham honestly think he's got it in with Davey Jones? Davy Jones isn't a real person, just an old wives' tale… right?"

"Barbossa is the reason Jack has that debt." Anne replied completely serious. "Barbossa attacked the ship Jack used to be a sailor on, hardly left any survivors and the ones he did leave, were tied to barrels and set to sea. Jones picked them up one by one and made deals. Jack being wily as he is talked his way out of a direct one-hundred years of service. Jack's been regretting that bargain and looking for a way out as hard as he can."

"Surely, you can't believe any of that! It's only an exaggeration! A drunken sailor's story!"

"No Colleen, it's the truth, every word."

With that Captain Bonney walked away leaving Colleen to ponder that. 'Maybe the ghost stories _are_ really true? But that couldn't be, why wouldn't I have run into any of them before this if it was?'

Colleen was about to turn away and help prepare them for docking when she noticed a glinting light on the horizon. She went to Corner who was manning the Helm to get the spy-glass.

"Corner, can I use the spy glass?" she asked.

"I don't know Colleen? Can you?" he replied.

"May I use the spy-glass Corner?" she huffed.

"Colleen if you didn't use that tone maybe I'd give it—"Colleen cut him off mid-sentence by grabbing the telescope and turning back to the horizon.

"Hey! I didn't say you could--! You little thief!" He screamed after her.

"Pirate." She retorted. She then turned back to the horizon and looked carefully through the glass. The glinting she had seen was now closer and much more frequent. What the glint was was seven East India Trading Company ships. Each one heavily armed with twenty guns, and about one-hundred men.

"God help us!" she swore under her breath. "Captain!" she cried turning to run down to the main deck, "Captain!" all tree turned to look at her from the chart they were reading, "Company ships, thirty points south by south west. Seven fully armed naval brigantines!"

"You're sure?" Anne snapped taking the spy-glass from Colleen's hand and training it in the direction she had led them.

"Yes Captain, positive. I've never mistaken an enemy ship…"

"My god Jack, she's right!" Anne gasped handing off the glass to Mary Reade.

"What do you think we should do?" Mary asked while looking through.

There was a slight pause before Jack flew in to an angry frenzy of yelling orders.

"Alright dogs, full canvas! Anything that can be lost see that it's overboard double time! Hurry, hurry you lot, move it!"

Colleen ran off in the direction of the bilge to try and see what could be thrown overboard.

"Miss Killigrew!" Jack's voice cut into her like a knife, "if they get too close, I'm putting you in charge of the long-nines."

"Excuse me?" Colleen stuttered.

"That's an order, now move!" Colleen jumped into action before receiving another tongue lashing from Rackham.

"Alright men," she heard him yell over the din of the men struggling to make the ship as fast as she could possibly be. "I want to out-run those dogs as long as we can, if they overbear us, wait for Miss Killigrew's order!"

Colleen grimaced at the thought of so many lives depending on her skills of timing. 'Oh lord,' she thought, 'I know I've never been that devout, but please help me now!'

The three pirate ships outran the Trading Company ships for a little over a half an hour. Then suddenly one of the bow cannons on the Company ship Carpathian sounded and knocked the railing off the starboard side of the Queen Anne's Revenge.

By this time, word had been sent to Shipwreck Cove, and was hopefully received in the form of Wiggles, Thomas' parrot. Help was supposedly on the way.

"Alright men, we've run enough. We can't lose em' in the shallows so we'll have to make a stand." Rackham barked. "Miss Killigrew, on your order!"

Colleen's eyes scoured the other ships judging distance and movement. "Steady lads…" she said still watching. "Steady, steady…" Finally she saw the opportunity to fire. "Now!" she shouted and a hail of cannon balls streaked towards one of the Company ships. The Queen Anne's Revenge was already locked in a heated battle with one of the ships. Being slower that the rest the Queen Anne's was unable to outrun them as long, but she had superior fire-power to anything the Company presented, save for the flag ship Endeavour, and the Dutchman herself, so a battle of the long-nines was easily in the Queen Anne's favor.

The Black Dragon was still escaping to the safety of Shipwreck Cove since she was carrying the passenger of most importance to the voyage. If Cheng I Sao died and didn't manage to pass on her piece of eight, the court would be in great peril.

By this time the Company ships had regrouped from the surprise of the pirate's sudden attack and were firing back at the Fortune. One knocked Colleen from where she was standing by bouncing across the deck a few feet in front of her and she fell backwards trying to escape its fatal blow. Thomas was crouched next to her as he helped load one of the cannons.

"Waiting on your order Captain Killigrew…" he smirked.

Colleen stared at him for a second after realizing what he had just said, then shook her mind free. "Ready boys…. Fire!" Another volley of cannon balls pelted into the Company ship and there was an explosion.

The explosion was from the ship that Queen Anne's Revenge had just finished off, breaking herself free from the three ships that had ambushed her. 'Four left…' Colleen thought.

From the other side of the ship Mary was giving orders for their guns to fire and was targeting a ship that had squeezed past their defenses and was going after the Black Dragon. Colleen called for another volley and it was evident that the enemy ship was beginning to take on water badly. She had no idea how the Fortune herself was faring, the only thing in her mind being the desire to sink that ship opposite her.

With a final call for a volley there was a satisfying crunch and boom as the powder magazine on the Company ship was breached. Colleen let the breath she didn't know she had been holding out in a sigh of relief, cheers went up throughout the crew and she was suddenly mobbed by pats on the back. Unfortunately this victory for Colleen was short lived as one of the remaining two ships began to fire on them. Rackham had told the helmsman to steer them to the island and upon further inspection five pirate ships were sailing out to meet them. The two sloops in the front of the reinforcements firing as quickly as possible at the remaining two ships. Whatever they did they couldn't let these two ships escape, too much was at risk, the location of Shipwreck Island, the names of the ships tied into the Brethren Court, and most importantly where the last cache island of the Rumrunner's was located.

The Queen Anne's Revenge had regrouped and was now firing at one of the other ships sinking her quickly, and just as suddenly as it had started, the battle was over, and the crews of the pirate ships were almost entirely intact.

Now the crews were allowed to celebrate, the captains assessed the damage to their ships, and how to repair it before they left the island, and soon the crews were back to preparing for landfall.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The sun was getting low in the sky when Colleen finally stepped onto solid ground. Her legs wobbled slightly from the feeling of not having her ground move below her. She had her pack slung over her shoulder containing the letters she had managed to save and her trinkets, as well as her blanket from the Fortune and other hygienic materials. Colleen walked down the make-shift gangplank onto the make-shift dock and into the make-shift city. Everything was made of the hollowed out remains and not-so hollowed out remains of ships, many with large gaps in their hulls from where they had wrecked on reefs. Colleen stared up in wonder at the mountain of ships that had been piled atop this one rock in the middle of the cove. Every gun port on each of these ships still worked, so if there were enough people in the city at one time, the entire thing could become an impenetrable fortress of guns, it was very intimidating even for a pirate allowed on the inside. Colleen kept on glancing up as she was shoved down the dock by men helping to unload and tie up the new ships. She caught brief glimpses of her family here and there but then lost them again in the sea of people.

'I'll find them again,' she thought, '…somewhere…'

Colleen turned thinking she heard her name and saw Gabriel staring at her intently. He was being led away with the rest of the crew and his captain to where they would be held until the full court was convened. Gabriel was straining against the shackles that bound him hand and foot to the men in front and in back of him.

"Colleen… please I know you're mad at me. I just want to say I'm sorry for everything…" He was shoved roughly back into line before he could say anything else and Colleen glared after him, clutching her pack with all his letters closer to her body.

Suddenly Colleen felt a hand on her elbow, she turned swiftly only to find herself staring into the smiling eyes of Thomas Diggles. "Let's go get some food!" he suggested, and Colleen agreed wholeheartedly pushing the events of the last few moments from her mind entirely.

After her meal with Thomas they stumbled upon her family making merry at a bar. She bid him goodnight and sat with her family relaying details of the voyage, and getting other perspectives. She was happy to finally be with her own crew again, something familiar, they were her family, they would help keep her from being too depressed while the trials and execution went on.

Finally after long drinks of beer, rum, grog, gin or whatever happened to tickle their fancy slid down their throat, and their pockets were spent for the moment. They found an inn and slept soundly for the first time in days.

**A/N: Okay…. Writing out that song at the beginning was a pain in the butt!! But I felt I must put the entire thing up here or you lose the feel of the song. It's just so dang long!**

**Yes, I realize Maud would die if she really wasn't sober for twenty years. **

**As for the dream part… hmmm could I be foreshadowing a little?? **

**Whenever I write "Diggles" I think of you Meaghan… 3**


	5. Chapter 5:FortuneTellers and Jail Cells

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN OR ITS CHARACTERS. IF I DID I WOULDN'T BE WRITING FANFICTIONS FOR IT.

Hoist the Colors:

Chapter 5: Fortune-Tellers and Jail Cells

"Mrs. McGrath," the captain said

"Would you make a pirate of your son Ted?

With a scarlet coat and a fine cloth hat

Mrs. McGrath, wouldn't you like that?"

Sing Too rye ae, foll diddle-ee ae

Too rye ooh rye ooh rye ae

A Too rye ae, foll diddle-ee ae

Too rye ooh rye ooh rye ae

Now Mrs. McGrath lived on the shore

And after seven years or more

She spied a ship coming in the bay

"That's my son Ted, will you clear the way?"

"Now Captain, dear, where have you been?

Have you sailed the Mediterranean?

And have you news of my son Ted?

Is he living or is he dead?"

Sing Too rye ae, foll diddle-ee ae

Too rye ooh rye ooh rye ae

A Too rye ae, foll diddle-ee ae

Too rye ooh rye ooh rye ae

Then up steps Ted without any legs

And in their place two wooden pegs

She kissed him a dozen times or two

Said "Ted, me boy, is it really you?"

"Now was you drunk or was you blind

When you left your two fine legs behind?

Or was it walking upon the sea

That tore your legs from the knees away?"

Sing Too rye ae, foll diddle-ee ae

Too rye ooh rye ooh rye ae

A Too rye ae, foll diddle-ee ae

Too rye ooh rye ooh rye ae

"Well I wasn't drunk and I wasn't blind

When I left my two fine legs behind

A cannonball on the fifth of May

Tore my legs from the knees away"

"Ted, me boy," the widow cried

"Your two fine legs were your mama's pride

The stumps of a tree won't do at all

Why didn't you run from the cannonball?"

Sing Too rye ae, foll diddle-ee ae

Too rye ooh rye ooh rye ae

A Too rye ae, foll diddle-ee ae

Too rye ooh rye ooh rye ae

Colleen sang quietly to herself in a small voice as she wandered the narrow pathways, and crooked walkways of Shipwreck City. She was absently picking at a piece of fruit, while she walked, its sweet flesh left sticky juice on her fingers. She had pulled her newly-washed hair into a tight braid at the nape of her neck.

It was night, and the stars and crescent moon hung overhead as Colleen dodged being hit by a man thrown from a tavern door, and stepped over the men and women in booze induced comas that lay haphazardly along the pathways. To most of these she didn't grant a second glance.

Since her landing on Shipwreck Island little progress had been made, the members of the Brethren Court were still arriving. Sri Sumbaji had just arrived that day, on his magnificent ship and decked in all his glorious wonder. Colleen figured that he didn't speak English for she never saw him speak to anyone without an interpreter. The interpreter must have been with him for a very long time, for the interpreter knew exactly what Sri Sumbaji wanted to say, without Sri Sumbaji needing to give so much as a word, a mere tilt of the head, or wave of the hand gave the interpreter enough information for him to give a full out monologue of Sri Sumbaji's opinion. It was down-right scary at times.

Of the Brethren Court six had gathered, Mistress Cheng being one, Gentleman Jocard another, Armand the Corsair the third, Sri Sumbaji, Villanueva, and Chavelle the Penniless Frenchman. The latter two were the main cause of most of the fighting between the Court and other pirates on the island. It just so happened that Chavelle and Villanueva still had enough patriotism in their heritage to start a brawl in the ancient tradition of Spain and France. Two of the members still missing, were said to be engaged in the rescue mission of Jack Sparrow, the final member of the Court.

Other local pirate captains and ships had begun to flock to Shipwreck Island day by day. All demanding some sort of decision about the East India Trading Company, especially in regards to the Flying Dutchman, now that she had sided with the Company and the Pearl had been taken to the Locker, no one felt safe. Every one of the ships that made it to the island wished for rest from the horrible destruction and terror Davy Jones wrought upon the seas.

For Colleen, her main concern and reason for being at Shipwreck Island was going to be resolved the next morning. For with Sri Sumbaji's arrival came the seventh Piece of Eight, and the ability for the Brethren Court to hold a trial. In the morning, Captain Kidd and his crew were to be put before the Court to plead their case, and to receive their punishment.

Colleen was winding through the narrow and rickety streets trying to find exactly which tavern her family had disappeared to, almost every establishment on Shipwreck Island was a tavern, or inn, or bar. There were a few blacksmiths, and other such repair-businesses, but otherwise most of the stores were for liquor, food, or pleasurable company. None of these things appealed to Colleen at the moment, she still had that nagging urge to talk with Gabriel and find out why he and his crew had betrayed their friends so easily.

Colleen walked down to the docks, her feet looking for the calming presence of the Pendennis, home. But Colleen had to stop herself before she went any farther, knowing that the only thing she would discover was the pain of not seeing her beloved ship there.

Looking up she noticed a long wood and rope bridge barely hanging onto the cliff-face and the nest of broken ships that made up the Court's tiny island. Colleen could see the flickering lights of a small town on the other side of the bridge, and decided to brave the crossing to explore the town.

She regretted the decision once half-way across the bridge. It would sway dangerously in the smallest gust of wind leaving her clinging for dear life to the flimsy rope hand-rail. She sat curled in the fetal position for several minutes as one particularly bad gust of wind rocked the bridge, but she opened her eyes slightly when she heard a steady clip-clop of something like hoof steps. There passing by her was a bundled up old man and a withered old donkey. The donkey tossed his head and let out a loud noise that sounded vaguely like laughter to Colleen as he passed by the girl. Colleen scowled at the donkey but continued to cling to the bridge until the wind died down. Then she stood slowly, and sprinted to the far side of the bridge.

Sinking to the ground with a shaky sigh of relief she thought, 'I'm going to have to come back this way aren't I?' Then with a groan she stood and made her way into the town. 'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.'

Colleen wandered through the cobble stone paved streets and peered into the dark windows of the shops. Each one was locked up tight against the pirates of the nearby city. The locks were well made, and held solid, Colleen knew, she tried them all.

After a little while she decided to go back and turned suddenly on her heel, and nearly crashed into an old peddler woman. Colleen cried out in surprise taking a few steps back and drawing her sword. The woman did not seem fazed by this at all.

"Please," she said, her voice sounded as worn and leathery as her face looked. "I am hungry, give me some food! Help a poor old woman!"

Colleen stared at the woman and thought for a moment, then relented sheathing her sword, this poor lady seemed harmless enough. "Here, I have a few biscuits." She said pulling some old dry cakes wrapped in a cloth from her vest pocket. "They're not much, but filling at the very least…"

"Bless you good child! Bless you!" The woman took the biscuits happily. Colleen again turned to go but was caught at the wrist by the old woman. Colleen was startled by the strength of the woman's grip, her fingers dug into Colleen's flesh with bruising force and she felt a twist of fear curl through her belly.

"Let me go, ma'am. I've given you all I have!" Colleen said, twisting her hand in the woman's grasp while the left hand writhed for a good angle to draw her blade.

"Come with me girl, I will read your fortune to pay you back." The woman stared at her with an intimidating intensity.

"…No, no. That's quite alright; I'm not interested in my future." Colleen hesitated still struggling to get away, but this damned woman wouldn't let her go.

"Colleen Elizabeth Killigrew! Come with me!" the woman said sternly. Colleen's heart stopped dead.

"How do you know me?" she said, her eyes wide with fear.

The woman's eyes flashed for a moment of something like hellfire. "Let me read your fortune, in payment for your food." Colleen felt a shiver travel down her back as she agreed, not really seeing a choice in the matter.

The old peddler woman led her through the streets, and out of the town. They traveled across the island for a while until they came to the mouth of a cave. The woman began to pull Colleen down into the cave but Colleen held her ground.

"What is it child?" the woman questioned.

"Where are you taking me?" Colleen hissed, she was still being held onto by the woman and she was preparing to fight if the woman didn't tell her.

"Have some faith, child; I'm not going to hurt you!" the woman tutted, finally releasing Colleen's wrist. "Go if you want to, but I just want to repay you."

Colleen stared at the woman for a few moments before she sighed. "Lead me on."

Down they traveled, remarkably on flights of stairs chiseled into the rock. At the bottom, Colleen and the old woman stepped into a small grotto. It was almost pitch black until the old woman struck a match and lit a few kerosene lamps.

The room was a large cavern, and spires of minerals clung to the roof of the cavern, and jutted up from the floor like a dragon's teeth. Colleen really started to wonder what she'd gotten herself into. There were all sorts of charms and knickknacks scattered about the room placed on top of old worn furniture, no doubt made from the planks and boards of old wrecks.

"Come here Colleen." The old woman said, reaching out a hand to her. She was already seated in a worn rocking chair behind an intricately carved table that probably had once called the captain's quarters of a naval vessel its home.

Colleen walked over and sat across from the woman on an old crate that had a cushion placed on top of it. There was no crystal ball, and no deck of tarot cards as per usual of the fortune tellers in Tortuga and Shipwreck City. Instead there was a small polished bronze bowl set in the center of an intricate chalk drawing. The white lines connected to circles in which sat large candles that were already had their wicks flickering merrily. Also placed at certain parts of the chalk symbol were various items, a pile of bones with runes carved into them, a gold hair-comb inlaid with jewels, a chicken's foot, and a collection of multicolored crystals. Colleen peered at the items while the old woman added liquids from vials and powders from bags to the little bowl until the liquid inside seemed very murky.

"I need a lock of your hair." The woman said, Colleen started at the sudden noise after it being quiet for so long. But she leaned forward and pulled her braid over her shoulder so the woman could reach it. The woman took about an inch off the bottom and tossed that into the bowl as well. Then she lay her hands on either side of the bowl, palms facing up, and closed her eyes and fell into what Colleen suspected was a deep trance. Colleen watched as suddenly a chill draft blew up and the wicks to all of the candles fluttered dangerously, but didn't go out. As the wind grew louder and stronger Colleen noticed the bowl had begun to form a whirlpool in the center, it spiraled down and down seemingly through the bottom of the bowl. It was then that Colleen noticed the humming coming from the woman's throat.

The wind whipped about Colleen's thin form catching the stray locks of hair and blowing them in her eyes.

"Ask a question of the oracle, child." The woman said.

Colleen's eyes snapped back to the woman and saw that she was out of her trance yet the wind did not die down.

"What kind of question?" she whispered.

"Any kind." The woman replied, seemingly unaffected by the driving wind.

"Alright," Colleen said, then she thought. After a moment she said, "Will the East India Trading Company find the island?"

The woman fell back into her trance and began to chant again. This time it was louder and Colleen could make out the words, but she didn't know their meaning.

"Soon," The old woman began. "They will come soon."

Colleen's heart skipped a beat. "How soon?"

"A day or two, not more than a week."

Colleen's mind raced, "But we sank all of their ships, how do they know where to find us?"

"There was a traitor among those who returned from the Locker."

Colleen sighed. "How will the battle end?" she asked.

The old woman paused trying to speak, but then said. "Ask a different question."

"Alright… will my family survive the battle?"

Again the woman paused. "Ask a different question."

Colleen sighed again. "What does the future hold for me?"

The old woman again paused, but before Colleen could change her question, the old woman began to speak.

"I see many paths… many opportunities. Whether or not you take them, is unclear… it depends on the decisions you make before those, and how you grow from those experiences. But I do see two lovers, both fighting for your attention, one condemned by man, the other condemned by fate. Which you choose is up to you. I see your fate pull away from that of your family's, and intertwine with that of a new family. The outcome is unclear. Many battles will be fought, both for you, and by you. Many friends may be lost. Many new ones may be made. You have a role to play in what is to come."

"Do you mean the battle against the Trading Company?"

"I cannot say."

Colleen paused for a moment. "What of Gabriel?"

"His fate is still undecided. His life hangs largely in your hands."

Colleen stood suddenly. "_My_ hands? He's in the custody of the pirate court. _I_ can do nothing about his fate." Colleen snapped she didn't like the idea of having the choice to save the person who had betrayed her.

Suddenly the wind stopped dead, and the candles finally blew out. Colleen stood in the darkness waiting for the old woman to answer.

Suddenly a match had been struck and was lighting one of the kerosene lamps over head.

"Well?" Colleen pressed.

"I'm sorry child," the old woman said, "I couldn't control the oracle any longer. Now then, I suggest you go back to Shipwreck City, you have someone who is missing you dearly, and another who wishes to speak to you."

"What?" Colleen said, still cross.

"That Diggles boy… he's been looking all over the town above and the city below for you." The woman smiled. "He's very fond of you."

Colleen blanched a little. "What?"

The woman sighed and rolled her eyes. "Didn't you know? Colleen you really aren't that bright are you?"

Colleen's mouth opened and closed several times to try and defend herself, but no words would come out.

"Off you go then." The woman said pushing her towards a dark passage way. "Go out this way, you won't have to cross that damnable bridge again."

Colleen stuttered. "How did you--?"

"And on your way to meet Thomas, go and see Gabriel… he really does wish to speak with you." The old woman cut her off still pushing her out through the passage.

"Wait, how did you know all that!?" Colleen said finally pulling her wits together.

The old woman suddenly fumbled along the wall of the dark corridor and pulled open a latch. A door before Colleen swung open, letting in the dying light of the sun as it slipped below the horizon. Colleen stood in awe as she looked across at the tower of ships. The old woman pushed her out onto the path that seemed to lead right to a lower, sturdier looking bridge onto the island.

"Off you go." She said, turning to go back inside.

"Wait!" Colleen cried. The woman paused and looked at her. "Really, how did you know all that about me, like my name, and about Thomas and Gabriel?"

The woman folded her arms and smiled, "Do you really think that conjuring an oracle is my only power? Now go! Hurry, I wouldn't want to be walking down this path in the dark!"

Colleen turned and ran off at a cautious trot down the path, careful not to trip over the small loose rocks.

The old woman watched her go with a smile on her face. Her hand reached up to absent mindedly clasp one of the pendants around her neck. "I think I've finally found someone to break your curse Roger… it won't be long now." She whispered before dissolving into the shadows of the corridor.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Colleen did manage to get into town before night had completely fallen and she began to wander the busy streets looking for a familiar face. However, after a while she recalled the peddler woman's advice and began to make her way to the wreck that was used to house prisoners.

It was at the very top of the sturdy pile, but not guarded at all. This was only because the only ways to escape were through the city filled with pirates that would recognize the prisoners in an instant, making an escape attempt a suicide mission. The only way to avoid the pirates was to simply hurl oneself from the pillar of ships itself, again a suicide mission.

Colleen entered the jail and bribed her way into where they were keeping Gabriel and the rest of the crew that had survived.

Even as she approached his cell, she still didn't know what she was going to say, or entirely why she was doing this. But this was something which she felt had to be done, if only because the mysterious fortune teller had told her to.

She bent down to look at the broken boy peering up at her almost fearfully through the steel bars. Behind his eyes, she saw no soul, none of the spirit she remembered from the time when they were children. For a moment she pondered what could have made him this way, but then cast the thought away as insignificant.

The other men of his crew stared at her as well, with a bit more malice than Gabriel did trying to unsettle her. She gave them a glance that was laced with a hardness that told them to give them privacy.

Colleen was the first to speak. "They whipped you?" She could see strips of blood on the back of his white shirt.

"Aye, all of us. Trying to get us to reveal what we know of the Company's plans." He said, still staring at her like she was going to strike him.

"Why did you stop?"

"Stop what?"

"Writing."

Gabriel sighed. "You won't believe me."

She shifted and said, "Tell me."

Gabriel sighed. 'What have I got to lose?' he thought. "I stopped writing to you, because you're parents told me to stop."

"Excuse me?!" The rage was apparent on her face. "Just how stupid do you think I am? My parents adored you!"

"I told you, you wouldn't believe me." He said.

Colleen frowned. "Alright then, prove it."

Gabriel sighed, then reached into the pocket of his jacket which lay over his knees. He pulled out a packet of letters that were tied together with string. He undid the string and sifted through them until he found the one he was looking for. He passed it through the bars and Colleen took it hesitantly.

"That, is the letter I received from your mother… directly after I had sent you my last letter. I had to write another one to her, stating my intentions of not offending her, and ceasing to write you."

Colleen opened the letter and read, in what appeared to be her mother's own hand:

_To Mr. Gabriel Loffe, from Mrs. Ellis Killigrew,_

_It has come to my attention, Mr. Loffe, of your correspondence with my daughter. I hope this does not come as a shock to you but from a very young age she has always been expected to enter into marriage with someone of equal station to herself. As it is you are already threatening that expectancy, and are newly threatening the betrothal process of her and a gentleman of her station, one Edward Townsend. _

_Therefore let it be known that if you should continue writing to her, in the manner of which you do. (Really Mr. Loffe you don't think I wouldn't read my own daughter's correspondence with someone I know her to have some romantic interest in?) _

_Let it be known that if you continue this correspondence, you may drive away Mr. Townsend, and should that happen she will be sent to a convent, and live out the rest of her life in the service of God. _

_You see, her little antics, and her family's "traditions," have made her rather unwanted by eligible men. It seems that you have contributed to that feeling among gentlemen by encouraging her heinous behavior. _

_Mr. Loffe I'm sure you are aware that her family has recently asked her come under contract of the Killigrew family name, and to participate in the "family business." Of which I am sure Colleen has made it known to you to be piracy. She has not accepted the offer as of yet. I pray to God that she will have some common sense and not go gallivanting across the ocean like a ruffian and ruin her chances with any decent men._

_This is unacceptable as it is, so you see in the fear of driving the already distressed Mr. Townsend away, I must humbly ask that you cease correspondence with my daughter. If only for the fact that she will be on a ship and she will not be able to receive these letters until she gets back. Mr. Loffe, she will not receive these letters should they come, I will personally burn them in the fireplace of her own room if a single letter enters this house. She will be formally betrothed to this man on the eve of her eighteenth birthday. Wherever she is in the world, she will be asked to return and live out her life the way she was meant to live it._

_Sincerely,_

_Mrs. Ellis Killigrew_

Colleen couldn't believe her eyes. "You're lying! My mother would never do anything like this!" She was frantic, mainly because her eighteenth birthday was only three days away.

"Colleen. I'm not lying. Your mother sent me this… What's the alternative, that I forged this to convince you of something? Why would I do that? I stand trial tomorrow morning, and will likely hang the following day. What do I have to gain from tricking you? Even if this was to trick you, I know you well enough to you you'd be too stubborn to believe it."

Colleen bit her lip and looked down at the letter, then back up at Gabriel. His eyes were sincere; she knew he had a point, but her pride got the better of her and clouded her reason. "Hear me now, Gabriel Loffe, if you ever even once loved me, tell me the truth. Why did you stop writing? And how could you dare betray me so? First, burning my ship, you do realize that was the ship that was handed down for generations in my family? And now, you try to convince me that my own _mother_ blackmailed you into forgetting me? Do you really expect me to believe that?"

"Honestly," Gabriel started. "No, but it's the truth all the same." Colleen looked like she was about to blow up again, but Gabriel interrupted her.

"As for the burning of your ship…" Gabriel was silent, staring intently at a piece of straw on the ground. "The East India Trade Company holds our contracts. Might as well be our souls… They have things of great importance to the crew, tremendous importance, and they threatened to destroy those things, unless we helped them stop the pirate lords from convening and amassing strength against them. Our end of the deal was to kill Cheng I Sao, or to slow down the reconnaissance mission by burning the ships. We failed in both, save for the Pendennis."

Colleen stared at him for a long time; Gabriel couldn't make out what she was thinking. Suddenly she spoke, "What are those things?—that the Company holds hostage from you… What are they that they are so important that you almost _killed_, the girl who loved you, more than anything, and almost destroyed all that she holds dear. What is worth that?"

Gabriel's eyes fell back to the piece of straw. "I'm sorry Colleen." He said "But I can't tell you that."

Colleen stood, "Why not?!" she screamed.

Gabriel stood to face her; it was then that Colleen noticed how much he had grown since the day he left. No longer was he the gangly boy she remembered, the one who didn't quite fit into his own body yet. Now, he hadn't quite reached manhood but he was close, very close. He was much taller than Colleen now, at least a head taller. She suddenly wondered just how she'd managed to reach his jaw with her punch, let alone knock him completely over. His chin had become lined with stubble, and for the moment, his eyes blazed to life, looking more like an actual human being than he had her entire visit.

"Do you really want to know?" He shouted back at her.

"Yes, Gabriel. Enlighten me." She taunted through the iron bars shaking herself from her thoughts, while daring him to make a pass at her.

He stepped towards her dangerously, gripping the bars and pressing his face as far through the gap as he could.

"What was worth burning your ship is the same reason you loved it so much."

By this time the others of the crew had stepped forward and had pried Gabriel away from the bars.

"Gabriel no!" the one named Barleycorn shouted. "You know what will happen to them if you tell."

"Yeah, like they'd find out!" he snapped. "What do we have to gain keeping our secrets now? For all we know they're dead already, and the Company is just keeping a hollow promise!"

"You don't know that!" Mr. Lamley chided him. Gabriel had wrenched himself free from the group of men and was standing in the center of them looking ready for a fight. Colleen had backed up slowly until her back was pressed to the wall across from their cell. She watched Gabriel, how had his old personality flared back to life in an instant?

"Aye, I don't. But we are dead!" Gabriel turned in circles appealing to all of the men. "Look at us! We're in a cage waiting to hear our death sentence. Perhaps the best way to protect them now is to let others know they're in danger! Please, let me tell her. I've finally gathered up enough courage to speak with her, please, let me say what I need to say."

"Why do you have the right Gabriel?" Moore asked.

"Because, Mr. Moore, she's the one person they didn't take, simply because, she wasn't there. I've wronged her in ways that no amount of praying or begging can ever forgive. So she deserves the truth. And also because… I love her." Colleen felt the ground come out from beneath her and gripped the stones of the wall more tightly, in an attempt to prove that this was actually happening.

"So I owe it to her, it's the least I can do." He continued.

Gabriel stared at Colleen for a few moments before he turned to the Captain. Captain Kidd had been merely sitting in the corner, watching the events unfold before him, watching Gabriel, the youngest member of his crew, the person he had called 'boy,' finally become a man.

"Captain, please. I promise you, no harm will come to _her_ with my telling... if anything, it might save her." Gabriel implored, there was such deep emotion behind his previously dead eyes, that, the Captain could think of no words right for the moment, so he simply nodded his consent.

Gabriel turned quickly and strode easily over to the bars where he and Colleen had been talking before. The other men simply stood watching him with their brains churning furiously, contemplating what he had said.

"Colleen, please. Come here." He begged her, reaching his whole arm as far as he could to try and reach her. Colleen shook her head no, fiercely. She wasn't sure what to think anymore. All of her courage had left her.

"Colleen, please." He begged. "You can leave; you can do whatever you want after I tell you. Just please, come back for a moment."

Colleen slowly walked back to him, once she was within reach, Gabriel's hand clutched her shoulder and the other arm pushed through the bars to grip her other one. Colleen flinched at the touch, but said nothing.

"I won't hurt you." He said, seeing her flinch. "Colleen, the East India Trading Company is an evil organization. They will stop at nothing to further their greed, and tyranny."

Colleen was beginning to find her voice again and made a confirming sound that seemed to mean, "Tell me something I don't know."

"They are. Colleen, they kidnapped my family." Colleen's face blanched, as their faces flashed before her eyes. They had been at the dock to see her off when she'd started her service on the Pendennis all those years ago.

"My two sisters and my baby brother." Gabriel stopped for a minute his voice catching in his throat. "I don't know if they're dead or alive. But I had to hold onto the hope that they are." Gabriel looked around at the cell full of his fellow crew mates, and then continued.

"They've got all of our families. Barleycorn's sisters and Van der Huel's wife. Starkey's wife and children. They've got Moore's whole damn family, right down to his cousins. Mr. Lamley's sweetheart was taken also. They took the Captain's wife and her handmaiden from right under his nose. On his ship! That's when we made the bargain, if they don't kill our families, and if they promise to let them go when our services were no longer needed, we would do whatever they wanted…We know they took them because we saw them, all of them caged up on one of their ships, like animals. Our Families... Family, Colleen. That's what was so important. That is why we burned your ship, because they've got what's most precious to us."

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked, there were so many other questions she had but this was the one that slipped out before she knew she was speaking.

"Well, because you asked." He said, looking a little concerned for her mental well being. "Colleen, I know this is a lot to swallow, but you have to believe me. Do you really think I'd be capable of hurting you so for any other reason?"

Colleen shook her head. "No." she whispered. "I'm so confused." She said closing her eyes and shaking her head.

Gabriel nodded, "Go then. Go and sleep, you look like you need rest."

Colleen began to pull from his grasp but not before he managed to catch her hand and bring it close enough to the bars for him to place a soft kiss on her knuckles. Colleen turned back to him surprised.

"Please," he whispered. "Please, our sentence will no doubt be to hang. We committed mutiny; under the best circumstances we will be marooned. Either way I won't see you again in this world. Please, search your heart and if you can find the goodness to forgive me, even a little, I would be forever in your debt and humble services. Forgive me Colleen, I'm begging you… Forgive us for our trespasses against yourself and your family." Gabriel's eyes rose to meet hers and Colleen looked away, unable to meet the feeling of martyrdom in his gaze.

She simply nodded and said, "I will try."

Gabriel smiled and again pressed his lips to her hand. "Thank you, thank you!"

He let her go then, and Colleen ran. She ran so hard that she didn't stop until she had tripped over a pile of broken lobster traps and fallen. Panting, only then did she realize how far she had run, and how fast she had pushed herself, and how much she hurt because of it. It wasn't nearly as painful though, as the wound that she now carried in her chest, a wound that she could feel bleeding out her life, yet that would never kill her. So she cried, the lay there and cried, curled up into the fetal position and cried until she grew too tired, and too weak to cry, so she fell into a dark and dreamless, yet welcome sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gabriel sighed after watching her leave. She'd disappeared so quickly he began to wonder if she'd even come in the first place, or if it had just been a cruel trick of his mind.

He turned slowly and let himself slide into a sitting position his back pressed against the bars.

"Gabriel?" Captain Kidd called.

"Yes, sir?" Gabriel's head shot up and looked the Captain in the eye.

The Captain smiled. "Where the hell did that come from?"

They both started laughing and soon the rest of the crew was laughing too, congratulating him on conquering his "inner demons", or his "head-strong sweetheart." Then as the laughter died down, the Captain spoke again.

"I'm proud of you Gabriel." He said.

"Sir?"

"That was a brave thing. 'Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned.' You just stood up to something more dangerous than Hell my boy. I'd say under any other circumstances that would earn you a drink. You've become a man."

Gabriel's brow furrowed. "I wasn't a man before?"

A chorus of "no's" sounded from the crew, earning a few chuckles as well.

Gabriel was taken slightly aback, then he thought. "Well, at least I can die saying I've got a pair." He said cheerily, grinning at the men.

They all laughed before going onto other topics of discussion long into the night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Colleen woke with a hangover, which was odd, since she didn't remember having anything to drink the night before. Then it all came back to her.

She stood slowly clutching her head and shooing away a stray dog that had come up to her, checking if she was dead yet. She stood slowly and made her way through the city looking for her family. They found her first.

"Colleen!" Bea yelled from behind her. She and Gert rushed up and gripped her tightly by an arm.

"You damnable little whelp!" Gert yelled, in a way that told her she was really worried. "Where the hell have you been?!"

"We've been looking for you all yesterday and all last night!" Bea chided, and then yelled. "Captain! We found her!"

Captain Elizabeth Killigrew's flaming red hair appeared through the sea of people.

"God, Colleen where have you been?" she said. "Well, that's not important… Colleen we need to speak with you… in private."

"What's happened?" she asked concerned.

The Captain's face looked dead serious, as did Gert and Bea.

"Guys… you're scaring me, what is it?" Colleen asked frantically.

"A letter's come for you…" Captain Killigrew said, "From your mother."

A/N: Aaaaannnnnnnd scene! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'm rather proud of it, I think it came out very well. I finally managed to get Gabriel out of his emo-mode it's like a breath of fresh air. Don't get me wrong I don't not like emos, Gabriel's was just a rather pitiful emo… Next chapter should be out soon, I'm really getting into the exciting parts. Trial coming up soon, and finally the arrival of the Black Pearl, plus conversations between Colleen and a certain two vexing lovers.


	6. Chapter 6: The Trial and Revelations

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PIRATES OR ITS CHARACTERS.

Hoist the Colors 6: The Trial and Revelations

The night that Patty Murphy died is a night I'll never forget

Some o' the boys got loaded drunk, an' they ain't been sober yet

As long as the bottle was passed around every man was feelin' gay

O' Leary came with the bagpipes some music for to play

Oh, that's how they showed their respect for Patty Murphy

That's how she showed their honor and their pride

They said it was a sinner's shame and they winked at one another

And every drink in the place was full the night Pat Murphy died.

Colleen barely registered the bawdy singing coming from a group of tavern goers, for Colleen's heart had stopped.

"Did you read it? What does it say?" She said her breathing erratic. 'Mother surely wouldn't try to marry me off would she?' Colleen thought frantically.

"No I haven't read it. But I've been expecting its arrival for some time now." Elizabeth Killigrew replied.

"You mean you knew about this!?" Colleen cried, offended that the Captain had kept this from her.

"Yes." The captain nodded solemnly.

"An' what about the rest of you?" Colleen wheeled on the rest of the crew. "Did you know?"

"Not till this mornin' when the letter came and Cousin Lizzie told us." Bea replied. The faces of the crew were all sad.

"No. No. I won't do it! I won't go! Captain you won't let her do this to me will you? You have to help me!" Colleen said desperately. Wheeling around and around, appealing to everyone. "Please! We're family! We're crewmates! We-we're Pirates! I'm not someone's wife unless I _choose_ to be! Please help me!"

"Colleen we're not in the position to defy your mother. Didn't you read your contract? You're mother only signed it because she put in the line 'to serve on the Pendennis faithfully until the day she dies, is given leave, or is summoned home by family.'"

"You can't be serious?" Colleen yelled, drawing attention to the group. "You're actually going to sell me out? What are we? Family or… or…" She couldn't finish the statement.

"Pirates? Yes, we are that." Captain replied. "But we are also family, so I promise you now Colleen I will do everything in my power to get you out of this… but we can't deal with that just yet. The East India Trading Company is on our tails, and we're trapped here, the Court meets later today when the Pearl makes berth, and the trial is in an hour."

Colleen's eyes shot open. "Trial?"

"Yes, Colleen, the trial. You know for the men who torched our ship?" Enid said.

Colleen swore and stalked off. "Where are you going Col?" Enid called after her. "You're gonna miss the trial!"

"I'll be there!" she snapped, and continued walking.

Her feet took her to the edge of the docks. The Fortune was moored nearby and on her deck stood Thomas. He hadn't seen Colleen for a while now and his excitement at finally having found the girl quickly evaporated when he saw that she looked distressed.

He stepped up to her cautiously, having seen her lash out at people before when she was in a mood.

"Hey Colleen?" He greeted gently, resting a hand on her shoulder.

Colleen spun around quickly, not really startled by his appearance but merely annoyed that it could be one of her family members come to check on her when all she really wanted was to be alone, and think.

"Oh, hello Thomas." She mumbled.

"Now what are you down for?" he asked.

Colleen snorted, but replied. "My mother wants me to get married." She said. "She sent a letter telling me to get home as quickly as possible; it arrived this morning with one of the other ships."

Thomas rubbed his neck. "Well… there's not much chance by way of getting back to Wales. We're pretty much stuck here."

"I know that Thomas, but still, if we do make it through this, I'm going to have to go back… or never go home again."

Thomas sighed and took a seat on the dock. "I never had a home." He said. "Well, I did once, mother, couple o' sisters. It's all well and good Colleen, but the homes on land are overrated I found. What's more of a home to you? Out there wandering the ocean on a ship or bein' stuck to one spot on dry land?"

Colleen smiled a little, catching his drift. "The sea." She replied. "Always the sea."

Thomas smiled brightly. "I'm sure if'n you choose to leave your family there'll be plenty o' crews waitin' to take you one board. Everyone needs a good quartermaster."

He was rewarded with a bemused laugh as Colleen sat down next to him. "Yeah, I'm sure they would."

They sat in silence for a little while watching the gulls dive and climb among the rocks protecting the cove.

"Trial's in a little while." Colleen finally said.

"Aye that it is. You gonna go?"

Colleen sighed. "Yes, but I don't want to."

"But I thought all you wanted was to see those men hang?"

"Yeah, I did, but now things got confused. I don't know what I want anymore, or who to believe."

Thomas reached for her hand and squeezed. Colleen's head snapped around to look at Thomas at his bold move, her eyes widened.

"You can believe me." He smiled tenderly.

Colleen smiled back. "Would you come with me? To the trial that is? I don't think I can face it alone." she asked tilting her head to the side.

"Course!" he said standing and helping Colleen to her feet.

Together they walked to the room in which the trial was to be held and found a place to stand along the wall. The court room was the meeting room of the Brethren Court. Thus, cluttered with random brick-a-brack and most surfaces were coated with a good layer of spilled liquor. Colleen's family was clustered behind Maud who sat in a chair to the right of Cheng I Sao, one of the judges for the trial.

'Something tells me this is going to be a biased jury…' Colleen thought to herself.

"Colleen, I have a question." Thomas said when they settled into the room.

"Go on." Colleen encouraged.

"Well, your family is a family of pirates right? It's like the 'family business,' for the women at least?"

"Yes."

"Well, you're mother's a woman Killigrew right?"

"Naturally…" she wasn't quite seeing where he was going with this.

"So then why is she so eager to see you leave this life? Shouldn't she be proud that you're doing so well in something that your family is known for?"

Colleen smiled ruefully. "Killigrew is her married name." she explained. "My father is the real Killigrew, so my mother was never expected to serve as a pirate, and the life was never a part of her expectations. Nor did she learn that her daughters would be expected to serve until after she married my father. She never approved of the Killigrew's practices but, it got hammered into me at a young age so I was excited when I signed onto the Pendennis. I thought by living up to my family's expectations of me that I could outrun my mother's… it seems I was wrong…"

"So she never wanted you to be a pirate?"

Colleen grinned and crinkled her nose. "Not in the least."

A few moments later the trial began. The accused were roughly shoved into the room and forced to sit on a long bench with their hands and feet shackled in handcuffs most commonly used for slaves. Colleen bristled at the sight; they should be allowed a scrap of dignity!

Captain Kidd stood and walked, head held high, to the defendant's podium.

"How do you plead?" a bored sounding buccaneer drawled.

Captain Kidd's chin tilted even higher, "Guilty." He said evenly.

All eyes shot to him with murmurs of surprise.

"But my crew is not." He explained. "It were my orders and mine alone that drove us to burn the Pendennis… I will accept the punishment for all of them…"

"We shall see." Captain Teague said who had control over the whole of this trial. "First Mate Robert Lamley, how do you plead?"

The younger man stood beside his captain. "Guilty, sir." Another murmur passed through the room, and Kidd gawked in surprise.

"Robert! We had this planned out!" Kidd hissed.

"I know that Captain, and I am sorry, but I am as guilty as you are. I could have led a mutiny, but I didn't, and I wished to save Miss Lorring, even if it means I can't wed her."

"Mr. Barleycorn, how do you plead?"

"Just as them sir, guilty… Makes no sense to not pay for me own sin… even if it were to help another." He added the last part under his breath.

This pattern continued with the rest of the crewmates until Gabriel was called to stand.

"Mr. Gabriel Loffe, how do you plead?"

Gabriel stood next to his shipmates with the air of a martyr he had adopted the previous night.

"Not guilty, sir."

This earned a barrage of protests from his shipmates and caused the courtroom to erupt into dozens of different conversations at once.

"Order, order!" Teague commanded.

"My boy, you do realize you have the crews of four upstanding and respectable pirate ships to provide evidence against you?" It was Cheng I Sao who spoke.

"I do." Gabriel said defiantly.

"Do you have any evidence to prove your innocence?" Teague asked.

"On my person in fact." Gabriel replied.

"Then by all means, present it to the court."

Gabriel was freed from his shackles and allowed to pull a stack of letters from his jacket pocket. For a horrifying moment Colleen thought it was their love-letters, but then she spied the seal and knew it wasn't hers; she never used scarlet colored wax.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the court I have here in my hand letters of correspondence between Captain William Kidd of the former Adventure Galleon. A ship, need I remind you, brutally sunk off the coast of Brazil. These letters are to the Captain from one Mssr. Cutler Becket of the East India Trading Company." Gabriel held the letters high, and Kidd whispered to Lamley, "Where the hell'd he get those?"

"This is the proof of my crew's innocence!"

"_You're _crew!?" Moore shouted, but was quickly silenced by a musket butt to his shoulder.

"As my fellow shipmates have admitted, we did burn and sink the Pendennis in an attempt to murder Mistress Cheng I Sao… but we had no other choice, these letters prove that."

"Give me the letters." Teague said, holding out his hand. Gabriel offered up the precious pieces of paper to the living legend.

After reading the first letter, Teague glanced up at the nervous Gabriel, and then handed it off to Cheng I Sao, and proceeded to read the second. The six Captains of the Brethren Court assembled began to discuss in hushed tones over the letters. After a while Teague turned back to the defendants.

"Captain Kidd, these letters seem to say that members of all of your families were kidnapped and are now being held hostage by the East India Trading Company under threat of death, should you not comply to their wishes… do I have that correct?"

"That is correct, Captain Teague." Kidd answered.

"Now, have any of you actually _seen_ these kidnapped family members of yours?"

The crew glanced at each other. "Yes, Captain-sir, Captain Kidd, Mr. Lamley, and several others all witnessed the people kidnapped. Not to mention that two of those people were kidnapped from right under our noses…" Barleycorn replied.

"Right from under your noses?" Teague repeated, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yes, sir. We were overtaken and overpowered when we were careening the ship to clean her of barnacles. The Captain's wife and her maid-servant were aboard and were captured after a scrap."

"Honestly I was half expecting you to say you gave them up without a fight… Guards if you would bring these gentlemen back to their cells to await out decision, the Captains of the Brethren of the Court and I will deliberate over a bottle of rum."

The men were chained up again and were being ushered out when Teague called back their attention.

"Oh and be sure to thank your young comrade there… these letters may just save your souls from the noose… well our noose at least…"

With that the courtroom was dismissed for lunch and adjourned two and a half hours later when the five bottles of rum provided had been consumed by the Pirate Lords.

By the time Colleen and Thomas had returned to the courtroom the prisoners were already there, sitting on the same bench with some looking nervous, others looking oddly optimistic.

As Colleen took her place on the wall Gabriel's eyes strayed to her, he gave her a warm smile and jerked his head in a "come here" fashion. Colleen excused herself from Thomas and walked over to Gabriel. His shipmates watched her walk over and rolled their eyes with moans of irritation, she shot them looks with daggers laced in them.

"So have you forgiven me?" Gabriel said with an excited puppy look on his face. Colleen couldn't have made it cuter if she'd plastered dog ears and a wagging tail on him.

Her eyebrow rose incredulously. "Really Gabriel, do you think it's that easy to forgive someone who tried to kill you? And really stop acting like you're not facing almost certain death!"

"Well I wasn't trying to kill _you_. And I'm not facing _certain_ death; I'm facing death with the chance of escape, which allows me to be able to act however I desire. Not to mention I'm pretty sure our water jug with our loaf of bread this past lunch was laced with something that put me in a very fine mood."

Colleen groaned, but continued in their conversation. "Did you know I was on the ship?"

"Uh… yes…" He knew he'd been caught.

"You tried to kill me…" she stated definitively.

"Okay fine, but really Colleen... look at it this way… no one got hurt, everyone's alive right?"

"No! I will not look at it that way!"

"You know for someone who's adamant to not forgive me, you certainly haven't hit me yet…"

"Gabriel… you gave me twelve hours to try and forgive someone who tried to _kill me_! That's not likely to happen…"

"What if I gave you twelve months?"

"Excuse me?"

"Would you forgive me if I gave you twelve months to think about it?"

"Hell, I don't know!"

"Ha, ha!" Gabriel cried triumphantly, "That wasn't a 'no!'"

Colleen growled in frustration. "It wasn't a _yes_ either!"

Gabriel grinned mischievously. "What?" Colleen groaned.

"You're so cute when you're angry."

Colleen gave him a solid punch in the jaw, and returned to where she was standing with Thomas on the wall.

"What was that about?" he said, tilting his head.

"He was just being difficult, and I think a little drunk… It's nothing."

By this time Teague and the rest of the Brethren Court had stumbled in, and taken their seats.

"Will the crew of the Adventure Galleon please rise." Teague said.

They did so.

"Given the circumstances, this convening of the Pirate Lords has decided that you are most certainly guilty of attempted murder of your brethren…"

There were murmurs of pleasure and smiles from the Killigrew's corner of the room, but Colleen's heart was in her throat. These men shouldn't die for protecting their family… and it felt wrong, no matter the severity of the betrayal against her.

"But we also believe you had no other choice… family and love is a strong bond… nothing can drive us to go further and nothing can put us in a more desperate state…"

The room was utterly silent.

"Therefore, we have decided on a sentence of marooning rather than hanging. Will the Killigrew clan find that acceptable as a punishment, given that they were the most severely affected by this impasse?"

There was a round of sturdy "aye's from the Killigrews, even Colleen accepted these terms. At least this way, there was a fair a chance of survival as they deserved.

With that, the trial was ended and as everyone began to file out Colleen made her way over to Gabriel once more, who was still under the effects of whatever drug had been slipped into his meal.

"Told you." He said grinning.

"Told me what?"

"I wasn't facing certain death; I'm facing mostly certain death."

"Is there really a difference?"

"I might not die?"

"Those chances are slim Gabriel."

"Aye, but give me twelve months… I'll come back to you Colleen, I promise… and hopefully you may have forgiven me by then. If not, I give you permission now, to kill me on sight then."

Colleen actually managed to smile. "Thanks, I think…"

There was a pause before Colleen spoke again.

"You know, I'm sorry it turned out this way with us."

"I am too, I really did love you, but they had my family, you understand that?"

"Of course I do, I would have done the same were I in your shoes… so I guess I can't really blame you for what you did… as much as I'd like to. And I can't say I truly love you anymore… too much has happened, and we've been apart for so long. I would want to say it and be lying to you about that."

Gabriel smiled at her affectionately.

"What?" she questioned, uncomfortable under his gaze.

"You've grown so much since I left haven't you? Physically, but mostly as a person… will you promise me something?"

"What?"

"That when your mother sends for you, you don't go back? The man she picked for you… I don't like him. They're going to clip your wings and make you something you're not. I called you 'my little bird' when we were younger, do you remember? Please, don't let them cage you… you're too lovely, too spirited… please don't let them take some of the sun shine out of the world. It's so dark already, please Colleen, don't let them break you! Promise me!"

"Gabriel…" Colleen was cut off by her family calling for her to come, she ignored it.

"Gabriel I received her letter yesterday… she's calling me home… I don't know what to do... I don't think I'll be able to escape it, Cousin Lizzie is bound by my contract to return me home when my mother calls me, so my family won't help… I'm lost… what should I do?"

Gabriel's face was stricken by this news. "Do anything you have to, you can't let them bind you to land Colleen… you're a pirate… it's what you were born to be and from those letters you sent me I know you love it… do whatever you have to." Gabriel was pulled away again, back to his cell.

With a horrid realization Colleen made a strangled cry in the back of her throat, she now trusted a man who had tried to kill her, over her own family, who loved her.

A/N: Well… I'm okay with this chapter, I don't like how I wrote Gabriel so I made him drunk rather than rewrite it… yes I'm lazy… Not much else to say…I feel this story is coming along nicely… we're about half-way through, and it's been two and a half years in the making… cool.

The near future for Colleen, Thomas, and Gabriel will include the arrival of Barbossa, Mr. Sparrow, and the Pearl, and conversation between Elizabeth, Thomas and Colleen, and then an escape attempt…


	7. Chapter 7: Drinks and the King

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PIRATES OR ITS CHARACTERS.

Chapter 7: Drinks and the King

I've been a wild rover for many a year

And I spent all me money on whiskey and beer

And now I return with gold in great store

And I never will play the wild rover no more

And it's no, nay, never

No, nay, never, no more

Will I play the wild rover

No, nay, never, no more

I'll go back to my parents confess what I've done

And I'll beg them to pardon their prodigal son

And if they embrace me as oft times before

Then I never will play the wild rover no more

Colleen sang absent mindedly to herself as she read over her mother's letter for what seemed to be the eightieth time that hour. The songs she sang were so familiar to her, that they needed no conscious thought for the words to spill from her mouth and for her throat to spin their tunes. Still the words on the paper hadn't changed in spite of the happy songs, still she was condemned to a bed with a man whom she didn't know, and had no care to ever know, still she was being taken from the life that she loved to be bound to land.

It was the day after the trial and Colleen was already up and about where her family was still in bed nursing hangovers from the previous night's drinking. Most of Shipwreck Cove wasn't up yet either making the streets the best place to be if you wanted to be alone. Colleen hadn't even bothered to make herself decent (pirate as she was, she had still been raised a lady), and her too-big-for-her shirt had slipped down one shoulder as it was not held on by her snug vest. Her calves were bare and showing as well since she hadn't bothered to put on her boots or stockings before she'd left the inn. Her hair was flowing haphazardly over her shoulders being free of its usual confines after neither having brushed nor braided it. Nor was her hair held tame by her usual harlequin bandana. Overall, Colleen looked like she'd had a hard night, and had simply pulled her pants on before getting out of bed, which was in fact what had happened.

Colleen was sitting on the docks mulling over the letter and Gabriel's words, she tried desperately to sort out the things that had kept her awake most of the night. Suddenly Colleen looked up as something at the mouth of Shipwreck Cove caught her eye, a large ship. She raised one hand to shield her eyes as she squinted into the morning sun to try and view the flag. To her confusion the ship was sporting the same flag that Rackham's ship, the Fortune, did. This made no sense, so she decided to wait about for the ship to dock and then have a peek at the Captain to see who this mysterious and strangely beautiful ship belonged to, she especially liked the black sails.

An hour later the ship had docked and Colleen slipped on board to look around while the crew unloaded empty provision barrels.

The wood of the deck beneath her feet felt damp and cold from the sea, she ran her hand along some of the spare docking ropes as thick as her arm and savored their prickly feeling on her skin. Colleen stood in the center of the deck and closed her eyes and let the presence of the ship wash over her. She turned in a circle and smiled in an expression of pure joy, a feeling coursing through her that she hadn't felt since the Pendennis sank. It felt like home.

"Oi! You there!"

An authoritative voice snapped her out of her reverie and she spun around in surprise. Colleen took in the people staring at her, both men, both looked oddly familiar.

"Are you on me crew? Who're you?" the one on the right spoke, he had a big grey coat, and dark dreadlocks and was standing with one hand poised in the air. "Well?"

"Oh! Well I'm Colleen Killigrew of the good ship Pendennis… well I was, it got sunk off the coast of Brazil so I guess I'm not on that ship anymore. But anyway, no, no I'm not on your crew, I were just admiring the ship. Is one of you the captain?" she babbled.

"I am." They answered at once then glared daggers at eachother.

"I told you before Barbossa, if they're your charts, that makes you chart-man!"

The man called Barbossa rolled his eyes before turning back to Colleen.

"Where are our manners?" He said striding towards her.

"My name is Captain Barbossa, pleased to make your humble acquaintance Miss Killigrew." He said taking off his hat and bowing to her in a sweeping gesture, before taking her hand and planting a polite kiss on her fingers.

The other man, obviously not to be out done, strode up to Colleen and said, "And I am the legendary Captain Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl." He said putting stress on the ship's name. Then there was a pause before Jack stepped forward dipped Colleen and kissed her full on the mouth. Colleen too stunned to do anything didn't think to push him away until after he'd let her up.

Again Barbossa rolled his eyes and then gave another polite bow. "Excuse us Miss Killigrew but we need to report to the Brethren Court to which we be long overdue." With that Barbossa swept by Colleen and Jack leaving them standing on the deck alone.

After a moment or two Jack turned to Colleen and said, "Care for a drink."

Colleen shook her head and replied, "I'd love one, or seven…" and she needed it after an introduction like that.

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After a few rounds of drinks Colleen had spilled almost her entire life's story to Jack while learning virtually nothing about him. Other than that he captained the Black Pearl, he knew Pizzarro (which was an oddity because Colleen thought he'd been dead for a while now), that he escaped a marooning by riding on the back of three giant sea turtles, and that he loved rum, French doors, and peanuts. By far it was the most confusing conversation that she'd ever had in her life, which interestingly enough got less and less confusing as she drank.

The "date" had ended when Jack had watched her finish her fourth drink and had leaned over to whisper a proposition in her ear, while his hand inched up her thigh suggestively. Colleen's eyes flew wide open and she gave an indignant shriek and gave Jack a slap that sent him sprawling.

"I'm only seventeen you pedophile!" she cried and stormed out of the bar.

Jack straightened himself up after that and said to the bartender, "I guess she's not paying then."

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Colleen strode through the crowds in a huff muttering to herself about: "How do I attract these kinds of people? Where do they get off thinking that every woman in Shipwreck City is a whore? How many times is this now? Nine, that I've had an old dog attempt to court me? Is there no decency among pirates anymore?"

This was when Thomas found her again and called out to her, "Hey Colleen!"

"Not now Enid, I'm busy thinking about how I attract men." Colleen groaned nibbling on her thumb-nail, and tripping over her feet.

Thomas stopped in his tracks. "You're drunk aren't you?"

"What?" Colleen's eyes shot up and she finally recognized Thomas. "Oh, hello Thomas, I was just talking to Enid about how I seem to attract strange old men. And yes, I am a little drunk."

"How much have you had to drink?"

"Four pints… or was it five?" she stopped in her tracks and contemplated.

"Well you're going to have a headache in the morning…" he muttered, then he walked forward and pulled Colleen along behind him. "Come on you sea-witch, time to get you sober…"

"Oi, where you takin' me!" she shrieked indignantly.

"Isn't my fault you got drunk well before noon. So now it's my responsibility to clear your head before the Brethren Court meets." Thomas said still pulling her along behind him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By nightfall Colleen had in fact been sobered and was nursing the subsequent headache with her water logged bandana pressed to her temple and a chair in the quieter and darker corner of one of the taverns.

Captain Killigrew was the one to stumble upon Diggles and Colleen huddled in the corner as she went to the bar for a stiff drink before hell broke loose in the city. With the Brethren Court in session _something_ was going to be decided tonight, and there were a wide range of opinions on what should and should not be done. It was likely that a few brawls would break out between the factions before the Court announced their final decision.

The factions were all led by various captains and crews, all of which seemed more like gang members now. The village surrounding Shipwreck cove had isolated the pirate city, not wishing to have to deal with the brawling buccaneers while they had nothing to do with the politics.

Captain's Samuel Bellamy, Cheng Chin, Anne Bonney and Mary Reade all wanted to fight the Company's forces, no matter how powerful for their freedom. On the other side Cheng I Sao, Jack Rackham, and Benjamin Hornigold wanted to simply stay put in Shipwreck Cove and use it as the fortress it was. Blackbeard adamant to oppose Bellamy and to appease his former teacher Captain Hornigold, took the side that was most opposed to his character, to shack up in Shipwreck Cove and hide. The Killigrew clan had decided to stay out of the politics and remain a neutral party. Having neither ship nor means to acquire a new one at the moment, they held no real political weight so they decided to wait to see what the outcome was and offer service and barter a way out to whatever ship left Shipwreck Cove first.

Elizabeth Killigrew had just ordered her drink and then turned to find a place to sit when she spotted Thomas and Colleen, so she moved to join them.

"You look ill Colleen." Captian Killigrew said sitting next to Thomas.

Colleen looked up quickly upon hearing her cousin's voice and then groaned.

"'m just drunk Captain… or I was…" she said letting her head rest on the table.

Captain Killigrew frowned. "You know better than that Colleen."

"Yeah, well I couldn't well help it! There was this man who kept on buying my drinks, an' I didn't want to be rude so I drank 'em. I think his name was Jack Swallow or John Starling or—"

"Sparrow?" Elizabeth Killigrew offered with a knowing smile.

"Yeah, that's it. Jack Sparrow."

"That was the Captain of the Black Pearl, Colleen."

Colleen sat up again. "Really?"

Her cousin nodded. "I met him once, Captain Jack Sparrow… interesting man."

Colleen snorted her agreement.

They sat in silence for a little while longer and Captain Killigrew finished her drink. Before standing she said:

"Thomas take care of Colleen, she looks a little worse for wear. And neither of you journey out into the streets after dark! There's bound to be some fighting going on and I don't want you two getting into any of it!" She stared at them pointedly.

"Yes, Captain." They replied, but managed to sneak out into the streets to see what was happening when gun shots were fired.

Sam Bellamy's crew had met Blackbeard's in the street and had been circling each other and snarling like dogs. Finally one had pounced on the other and a fight had broken out. It was Bellamy who came upon the scene and fired off one of his pistols into the air to break it up. He berated his crew for acting like animals instead of men, and Colleen and Thomas showed up when Blackbeard had come across the scene as well.

"Bellamy, it's been a while." Blackbeard growled in mock levity.

"Teach." Bellamy replied through gritted teeth, and gave the other Captain a curt nod.

"So's your boys are makin' trouble again Samuel?" Edward Teach replied, it was the first time Colleen had heard Blackbeard stripped of his nickname.

"Actually you'll find that it was your boys who started it Edward… I was just scolding mine for stooping to their level…" Bellamy's voice was calm and controlled.

"I think you'll find a good strip o' leather works better than words." He spoke the next words to his crew, "Twenty lashes for the lot o' ye, upon return to the Revenge…" Blackbeard stared Bellamy down.

"That's the difference between you and me, Teach." Bellamy said. "You have to resort to force to keep your men in line. Mine simply need a few choice words and my will be done…"

"Oh cut the drama and kiss already!" a new voice howled.

All eyes turned on Mary Reade who had just entered alongside Anne Bonney, both wore manic grins on their faces.

"We all know you two're just brimming with all this sexual tension!" Mary giggled, goading both of the men to see who would snap first; naturally it was Blackbeard.

"That's rich coming from you, Mary Reade… Have you finally convinced Anne to leave Rackham for you yet?" he retorted.

Anne snorted her disapproval. "Well Blackbeard, she does have bigger balls that you, after all, she's willing to stand up and fight the Company to get out of here. Since when were you such a lily-livered coward?"

This war of words progressed into a two-on-one match between the two female captains and Blackbeard. It was finally broken up by Bellamy when he fired off a second pistol.

"Alright, there's been enough fighting tonight. So let's all calm down and crawl back to our respective corners of this city… We're all in this together regardless of the decision of the Court. It's not up to us, so let's go get some food and drink. I for one will flog any man on my crew who is involved in another fight! What do you say Captains, can we coexist peacefully until morning?"

"Yeah, alright." Mary Reade said returning her cutlass to her belt.

Teach grumbled a bit before relenting and putting his own cutlass away. The crowd began to disperse then feeling that the show was over.

"Well Bellamy, care to join us over at the India Trader for a drink?" asked Anne Bonney revealing the tavern the crew of the Fortune had holed up in.

Bellamy shook his head. "No, not tonight. I have a feeling that tomorrow will be my last chance to get a message sent out before we're completely cornered. I'm going to spend tonight thinking of something to write to Maria."

"Ah, that's right." Mary said with a sympathetic look in her eye. "Maria Hallett your… um, your… what exactly is she to you?"

Bellamy smiled ruefully. "My lover, I suppose. I was on my way back to Massachusetts to marry her when the call was made to come here. I'm a month overdue, Maria will be furious!"

Colleen took in the man with an appraising eye. He was a young Captain but one of the most powerful. He had very dark hair, almost black in luster, which is probably where the name "Black Sam" came from. He was of medium height and build with warm brown eyes and a generous smile, and was dressed in finely tailored clothing. He typically wore black leather boots, and black trousers, a crisp white shirt and an off-yellow printed vest. He also wore two belts one for his cutless across the shoulder which also held two of the four pistols he wore, the other was fitted over a blood-red sash around his waist. To top the outfit off he wore a bulky blue Captain's coat, and a red bandana under a tricornered hat, and a handmade bone necklace given to him by a slave he had freed in the shape of a sea turtle. His reputation was that of a gentleman-pirate, he possibly had his love for Miss Maria Hallett to thank for that, it seems that even now in the darker days of the profession, Samuel Bellamy was as always thinking of Maria. Had Colleen been a different sort of girl she might have swooned, but she was not that type of girl, so she sighed instead.

"Well good luck to you Bellamy, she sounds like a fine lady-friend." Anne Bonney said giving him a pat on the shoulder. "Night then."

"Yes, goodnight ladies." Bellamy called after them as they made their way down the street. He was about to turn back to the tavern where his own crew had invaded when he spotted Thomas and Colleen still standing on the street watching him.

"Can I help you?" he said turning to face them.

Thomas looked vaguely like a mouse cornered by a cat but Colleen just smiled at him with a little too much knowledge behind her eyes.

"You're Captain Bellamy then?" she asked.

"Yes I am. And to whom do you belong?" he replied mimicking her akimbo stance.

"If you mean my employment I would suppose Captain Elizabeth Killigrew would be the correct answer."

Colleen watched as Bellamy's face split in a nostalgic grin.

"And how fairs Goody Killigrew these days?"

"Well enough I suppose, given the circumstances…"

"I heard about the Pendennis, I'm dreadfully sorry."

Colleen shrugged, "The Killigrews are a wealthy family, they can afford a new ship."

"You speak as if you were not one of them. I thought the Pendennis only hired kin?"

"Oh I am family, but not much longer if my mother has her way…" Colleen grumbled.

"An arranged marriage for a Killigrew? I never thought I'd see the day. Whom to?"

"Robert Townsend or something of the like. Never met him, never really care to."

Captain Bellamy snorted in amusement. "Best of luck to you then Miss Killigrew. But as I'm sure you overheard, I have to go and make sure my crew hasn't murdered anyone… and if they haven't I have to let my own fiancé that I'm alive for the time being. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Captain." Colleen said watching him leave.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Colleen and Thomas had made their way back to the inn for the night and were conversing over a mostly-friendly game of cards, "mostly" implying that well-placed jabs were inserted into the winner of that round's gloating, when a woman stormed into the tavern and the bar went silent. Several of the men, whom Colleen knew to be on the crews of the members of the Brethren Court, stood, removed their hats, and bowed to the woman with unenthusiastic "your majesties." The woman was medium height, with hair that could have been naturally brown but was as bleached by the sun as her skin was tanned. She was dressed in an oriental outfit that clearly had not been made for her, or indeed for a woman at all. She looked like any other scallywag except for the way she walked. Her stride hinted at a genteel upbringing much like Colleen herself. The woman ignored all of them and ordered a drink with a miserable look on her face. When the bottle of wine and a goblet was placed in front of her she took both and slunk off to the back of the room and proceeded to drown her misery.

"Oi, sailor." Colleen poked one of the men who had stood upon the woman's arrival. "Who is that woman, the one everyone's paying respects to?"

And indeed several of the sailors who walked by her table stopped to bow to her before walking off to their destination.

"That's Captain Elizabeth Swann. The new King of the Brethren Court."

"They actually elected a king!" Thomas gaped.

"What's she Captain of?" Colleen inquired.

"Captain Sao Feng was killed by an attack of the _Dutchman_, Captain Swann was named captain of the _Empress_ as he died."

Colleen kept an eye on the woman for the rest of the night. She and Thomas watched as she became more and more inebriated. Eventually Thomas bade Colleen goodnight and wandered back to the inn where his crew was staying. Colleen stayed in the bar and eventually worked up the courage to approach the woman who was, apparently, king of them all.

"Mi' lady." Colleen said with a respectful curtsy.

The woman was startled enough by Colleen's appearance to be brought out of her brooding.

"You look in need of a good ear and tight lips." Colleen said giving as friendly a smile as she could manage. "Mind if I sit?"

The woman shook her head and Colleen sat down across from her.

"Why do you look so sad?" Colleen asked, resting her chin in her palm.

"That's a bit of a personal question if you don't mind." The woman replied.

"Sorry, I haven't been in polite company for a long time, the ill manners rub off a bit."

The woman snorted in amusement.

"If you really want to know," the woman began. "I'm sad because my fiancé thinks I'm in love with someone else, and I've just recently found out that he betrayed the location of the cove to that short bastard who's commanding the East India Trading Company…. Why am I telling you this?"

"Because you're drunk and I'm here." Colleen said plainly.

"I really don't mean to burden you with my troubles."

Colleen downed the last of her drink. "Trust me; I could use the distraction from my own problems. Tell me more about your fiancé."

The woman smiled at the thought of him, "His name's Will. We were childhood friends; about a year ago he rescued me when pirates kidnapped me. He's a good man, one of the best I've ever met, but he's also a pirate, much to his dismay… He followed in his father's footsteps I suppose. His father was a pirate on the _Black Pearl_, and when Captain Barbossa went after the Aztec treasure—"

"Wait!" Colleen interrupted. "You've been on the _Pearl_? But she's just a legend, a ghost story."

Captain Swan smiled ruefully. "I thought so too when I first went aboard… but ghost stories are real, much as I hate to admit it." The captain then continued with her story. "Will's father didn't like how they had marooned their previous captain, so Barbossa tied a cannon ball to his feet and let him drown. Davy Jones got to him before he died and now he's on Jones' crew. I met him, while I was on the Dutchman… it's terrible, he's becoming a part of the ship… Will's so obsessed with rescuing his father from slavery on the Flying Dutchman that he's forgotten about me. I can't say that I would ask him to forget his father but… I love Will, with all my heart and I don't want to lose him."

Colleen couldn't think of anything to say except for, "Then don't."

"Pardon?"

"Forgive him. The next time you see him, forgive him, take him back, forgive him, and let him know that you're with him whatever he decides. It's what I should have done…"

"You're accent, I can't place it." The pirate king said. "Where are you from?"

"Wales, your ladyship, is the place to which I owe my way of speaking. I once called my family's estate near Cardiff my home."

"Once?"

"The port's no longer as friendly as I once thought."

"Because you're a pirate?"

"You've never heard of the Killigrew's have you?"

Captain Swann shook her head.

"No, can't say I have."

Colleen smiled. "The women of my family have a tradition of sorts. Every girl born to a Killigrew or to a woman who was once a Killigrew spends one year under the black flag. If she likes the job she may keep it and continue to sail with her sisters and cousins and aunts and such. If she doesn't, she may go back to land and live out the life her mother and father set down for her. We Killigrews are pride of some parts of Wales and celebrated in song throughout the land, so we have no fear of being caught or handed in when in our home ports."

Captain Swann raised an eyebrow.

"We attack British ships."

"Ah."

"My mother never liked this idea, not being a born Killigrew herself and had dreams of a 'better' life for me. If, marriage to a lord is in fact, a better life. She wants me to go home and give up my life on the sea to marry a man I've never met. This in itself is not what bothers me. I'm quite certain I could learn to like this man, but it's the life on land that I can't bear the thought of. I think she anticipated this and she set traps for me… she sabotaged my relationship with the boy I loved, an officer, in the Royal Navy, more than a match for me, and she set traps that I can't escape, save for never returning home."

"You could be with the man you love." The Captain stated.

Colleen smiled ruefully. "He is currently sitting in the prison at the top of this pile of rubbish awaiting marooning should he and his crew survive the battle that is to come. The East India Trading Company have his family and the family of all of those he sailed with. Their Captain was blackmailed into betraying the Brethren and the whole crew has been tried and sentenced. The worst part is, their betrayal was to attack and burn my ship, the _Pendennis_, and he knew I was on it even as he did so. So you see Captain, even though my heart knows this boy as the one I loved, my head seen only the fact that he almost murdered me."

The Captain was silent for a while. Then she filled her wine glass and passed it over to Colleen who downed the drink in one gulp.

"My name is Elizabeth, enough with that 'Captain' rubbish. I would like it very much if you might call me friend as well."

Colleen smiled. "Well then Elizabeth very pleased to make your acquaintance, even if the subject we bond over is broken hearts and betrayal."

Colleen and Elizabeth talked long into the night, and didn't sleep till the first rays of dawn were pink in the sky.

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A/N: Like how this chapter came out.

Next chapter: Colleen meets Will and punches Thomas, after she faces a difficult decision.


End file.
